Divorce advice

Bossyboots

Voyager2002 wrote:

In divorce the courts generally grant residence of the children to the mother, but NOT if there is a good reason why the child should stay with the father.

No, what the courts generally do is uphold the status quo. As most children are left with the mother then that is where the court will leave them unless there is good reason to change the position. The same is true of children who are living with their father at the time of the divorce. If the care is good enough, the court will not make an order changing the arrangement.

I fear that in this case, the OP is going to have to leave with his son and then seek the help of the court to remove the wife so they can move back in. An ouster injunction is a possibility if her behaviour is very bad but not a way to go to maintain good humour on the wife's part.

The intervention of social services might help, but they do not have the power to have someone removed from a house so while they are all under the same roof, this could be risky.

Voyager2002

All very sad.

Although this thread is (rightly) not about the wife's problems, I do wonder whether anything in the thread on drugs in the family might be helpful. It seems that her alcohol abuse has been brought on by physical pain, and now if she understands that she is about to lose her family that will make everything even worse for her.

hobo28

I fear that in this case, the OP is going to have to leave with his son and then seek the help of the court to remove the wife so they can move back in.

High risk and low chance of succeeding in my opinion. Better to either get the wife to leave (unlikely I suppose) or leave taking son with him.

Prudent

There is a very increased recognition on the part of social services of the risks that a parent's addicition can pose to a child. Addicts are perceived to provide inconsistent and arbitary parenting which is confusing to a child and cause huge emotional insecurity. I would consider seeking further advise from them before leaving your child in that situation.