NSW Family Law - Taking My Son on Agreed Days Under Family Law?

[kes]

I am separated from my ex. She has my son living with her. We came to an agreement that I get every second weekend and it was going fine until i wanted to have him over Christmas. It took ages to reach an agreement which we both agreed to on SMS.

Now for reasons unknown, she won't let me have him on the agreed days. Can I go to her place and have her hand over my child for the agreed time frame? Can she call the police? Does she have the right under Family Law to decide not to let me see him when we agreed? There are no papers in place.

Can I take my son on the agreed days, even though my ex-partner changed her mind?

We agreed through SMS.

 

[Sophea]

Hi Kes,

Since there are no court orders in place then you can't really do anything to enforce the arrangement you have with your ex and you will probably find that the police will not want to get involved in a family law dispute. It is only if one of you were to abscond with the child somewhere and the other filed for a recovery order that the police would become involved or if there was some violence.

Perhaps you should agree on an arrangement and file consent orders with the family court. Then if one party breaches it, then you can seek the court's direction to enforce them.

 

[sammy01]

get to mediation THEN get to court.
REad this - scroll down to the bit about court data... Get to court and get court orders to give you access to the kids.
Family Matters - Issue 88 - Shared care time | Australian Institute of Family Studies
Until you do that do nothing to upset the ex. It is a tough gig but realise you probably wont wind up in court BUT the threat of court might be necessary to motivate her to start playing nice.