1. Ex and I have joint custody, 50/50 access to D6. Ex and I previously battled in court over daycare, their application to move daycare close to Ex's new house in the suburbs was dismissed and costs were awarded to me.
2. This year we retained an arbitrator to decide schools/kindergarten. Again, Ex wanted a school near their house, we argued for one closer to the core where D6 was born and resides with me and my partner. The arbitrator selected my school and awarded me costs. It is a Catholic school - D6 is not catholic yet but I am converting because my partner is Catholic. Ex didn't care it was Catholic at the time.
3. Ex has indicated they wanted to move D6 to a new school after Kindergarten. I'm like... we have an arbitration order! So we ask the arbitrator to clarify the scope of her decision. Arbitrator says "the decision was for kindergarten ONLY". So now Ex believes they have carte blanche to re-open the school decision from scratch.
Apparently we were supposed to word the arbitration application to enumerate "and all elementary school grades thereafter"? Even our lawyer is dumbfounded by the arbitrator's stance. What about status quo? Material change of circumstance? We are assuming the latter still applies.
4. We have since retained a PC with arbitration powers. This PC tends to agree that Ex needs to show a material change of circumstance to change schools, but also thinks the previous arbitrator's scope clouds the issue. Here's where it gets awesome. Ex is claiming the Paris attacks are the material change in circumstance and Ex no longer wants D6 to be exposed to religion or religious schooling. Ex is claiming we are violating his rights as a parent to protect D6 from religion.
The PC is leaving it open whether we arbitrate this or go to court. We are thinking court. Ex is self-representing now, and I'd love to see Ex explain this to a judge.
Questions
- Does the arbitrator's scoping of the previous decision being "kindergarten only" hurt us, or will status quo of the current school hold weight in the court's eyes, i.e. require Ex to bring forth a material change in circumstance to change schools?
- What's the case law on religious schooling if one parent is an atheist? I am presuming the courts will lean towards religious schooling as a positive and not see it as a violation of Ex's rights.
2. This year we retained an arbitrator to decide schools/kindergarten. Again, Ex wanted a school near their house, we argued for one closer to the core where D6 was born and resides with me and my partner. The arbitrator selected my school and awarded me costs. It is a Catholic school - D6 is not catholic yet but I am converting because my partner is Catholic. Ex didn't care it was Catholic at the time.
3. Ex has indicated they wanted to move D6 to a new school after Kindergarten. I'm like... we have an arbitration order! So we ask the arbitrator to clarify the scope of her decision. Arbitrator says "the decision was for kindergarten ONLY". So now Ex believes they have carte blanche to re-open the school decision from scratch.
Apparently we were supposed to word the arbitration application to enumerate "and all elementary school grades thereafter"? Even our lawyer is dumbfounded by the arbitrator's stance. What about status quo? Material change of circumstance? We are assuming the latter still applies.
4. We have since retained a PC with arbitration powers. This PC tends to agree that Ex needs to show a material change of circumstance to change schools, but also thinks the previous arbitrator's scope clouds the issue. Here's where it gets awesome. Ex is claiming the Paris attacks are the material change in circumstance and Ex no longer wants D6 to be exposed to religion or religious schooling. Ex is claiming we are violating his rights as a parent to protect D6 from religion.
The PC is leaving it open whether we arbitrate this or go to court. We are thinking court. Ex is self-representing now, and I'd love to see Ex explain this to a judge.
Questions
- Does the arbitrator's scoping of the previous decision being "kindergarten only" hurt us, or will status quo of the current school hold weight in the court's eyes, i.e. require Ex to bring forth a material change in circumstance to change schools?
- What's the case law on religious schooling if one parent is an atheist? I am presuming the courts will lean towards religious schooling as a positive and not see it as a violation of Ex's rights.
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