parental responsibility implications

troubleahead_2

hi thanks once again for the previous responses.
a quick update and more advice if possible

when my partner went to pick the kids up his ex wife came out the house with the form for him to sign regarding parental responsibility which he once again refused to sign. she then said she will take him to court and that he would be hearing from the courts.
what will happen when she takes it to court?.
as I have mentioned before we feel there is more to this than she is letting on. also I didn't mention before her new husband works at the same place as my partner which complicates things.
also another reason I don't feel its really for the kids benefit is that she has a 14 year old daughter that still lives with her by her first husband .shes not applying for parental responsibility for the stepfather for this child. her father lives miles away
.we live 15 mins away.
my partner also asked his ex why when they were married didn't she apply for stepfather parental responsibility for him regarding his then stepchildren if this issue was so important .she didn't give him an answer.

any advice/comments appreciated.

RAS

troubleahead

I suspect that this is more about his ex's new husband wanting to be the man than about the ex?

For what it is worth a friend faced a similar situation and refused (even though he really like the new spouse and they had got on really well for years previously).

The child was actually pushing for it and he explained to the child that regardless of whether mum had a second husband or not and regardless of how well the new husband got on with the child, he was still his father and that would not change. Five years later the adult child still got on well with both men and had completely dropped the idea of changing their name.

I suggest that your partner speaks to Families need Fathers as they can provide some advice and there will be others with experience.

Rottensocks

troubleahead wrote: »

when my partner went to pick the kids up his ex wife came out the house with the form for him to sign regarding parental responsibility which he once again refused to sign. she then said she will take him to court and that he would be hearing from the courts.
what will happen when she takes it to court?.
.

How long has she been with this current partner?? If its less than a few years, I doubt there is much chance he will get PR via the courts. Let her carry on. If she (foolishly IMO) goes to court it leaves it open for your husband to make counter applications of his own: like shared residence for example, so that there is no presumption that your household is somehow 'lesser' than hers.

As there is a history of difficulties, I think you should just say a polite but firm NO. By the way, out of interest, what would this woman have said if YOU had asked for PR? (Gone bonkers, I expect )

troubleinparadise

I cannot see what the ex-wife is hoping to achieve with this.

It sounds like a lot of fuss and stirring up things for no good reason.

It makes no difference to the child/ren - they still have both their parents, and should the worst happen there should still be one natural parent with responsibility. There doesn't appear to be a situation that the natural dad is not regarded as a fit parent.

And threatening court action - what's that about, other than control?

So what's the point?