I have what's become a beast of an issue with respect to the sharing of driving. When my ex and I separated, we lived within walking distance of each other. I have sole legal custody, and she has access an evening per week and alternate weekends from after school Friday until return to school Monday.
About a year later, I lost my job and for financial reasons, had to move in with a friend who lived approximately 90km away. The mobility restriction in our separation agreement allowed me a 100km radius from where we were living before we had to modify the parenting plan, etc. The majority of the distance between us was highway driving, and could be done in under an hour.
At this point, my ex decided that it wasn't worth her time to come and see the children on Wednesdays, even if it was to take them out locally rather than taking them back to her place. I did not agree to this, but had no choice but to accept it as she simply wasn't showing up. For the weekends, we did agree together that returning the kids on Sunday evening made more sense than having them get up earlier on Monday to get to school.
She was unhappy about it, but continued to do all of the driving as the agreement was written that she picked up and dropped off, except during the summer.
Fast forward another year, and she has gotten remarried. She and her spouse voluntarily relocated in the opposite direction, now increasing the distance to over 200km.
Not surprisingly, she is even less happy about the driving now. She has gotten a lawyer and is attempting to make changes to the agreement. (It's been a couple years, so this part isn't all that surprising.) They're demanding that I share half of the driving or she will simply reduce her access time by half and only see the kids once per month.
I've been digging in on this because of the fact that I'm carrying additional responsibility and costs due to her not taking the kids on her weeknight, picking them up late on Fridays, and returning them Sunday instead of Monday morning.
So two part question.
1. Am I a tool for digging in?
2. If this were to get to court / sc, do I have a chance of being successful?
About a year later, I lost my job and for financial reasons, had to move in with a friend who lived approximately 90km away. The mobility restriction in our separation agreement allowed me a 100km radius from where we were living before we had to modify the parenting plan, etc. The majority of the distance between us was highway driving, and could be done in under an hour.
At this point, my ex decided that it wasn't worth her time to come and see the children on Wednesdays, even if it was to take them out locally rather than taking them back to her place. I did not agree to this, but had no choice but to accept it as she simply wasn't showing up. For the weekends, we did agree together that returning the kids on Sunday evening made more sense than having them get up earlier on Monday to get to school.
She was unhappy about it, but continued to do all of the driving as the agreement was written that she picked up and dropped off, except during the summer.
Fast forward another year, and she has gotten remarried. She and her spouse voluntarily relocated in the opposite direction, now increasing the distance to over 200km.
Not surprisingly, she is even less happy about the driving now. She has gotten a lawyer and is attempting to make changes to the agreement. (It's been a couple years, so this part isn't all that surprising.) They're demanding that I share half of the driving or she will simply reduce her access time by half and only see the kids once per month.
I've been digging in on this because of the fact that I'm carrying additional responsibility and costs due to her not taking the kids on her weeknight, picking them up late on Fridays, and returning them Sunday instead of Monday morning.
So two part question.
1. Am I a tool for digging in?
2. If this were to get to court / sc, do I have a chance of being successful?
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