Family Law & Joint Custody

Hello

I am involved in a marriage separation situation. If I can first give you the background/ context. The financials have been agreed upon after exhaustive and expensive negotiations over many months. However, child access terms (3 young children) were not included in this. I will be the non- resident parent (father). My wife has eventually agreed a child access schedule for me that I consider impractical and inflexible, that involves a huge amount of tooing and frowing.

The consent terms as drafted give us joint custody. What is concerning me most is that My wife's solicitor wants to include a clause that I am giving her "primary care and control" of the kids. My solicitor (who in all fairness who must be worn out at this stage) says that this is a standard clause in child access agreements, and reflects the actuality of the situation. It is proposed to rule this in court, along with the financial provisions. As a layperson, I find this quite worrying.

My question is is this a standard clause that typically appears in such agreements?

Thank you in advance for any help, especially at this time of year!

"My question is is this a standard clause that typically appears in such agreements?"

Yes. And you're not "giving her "primary care and control" - you're both agreeing that you are not going to be the resident carer.

Try not to let the wording become the focus - you both have to try unbelievably hard to make access arrangements work. And sometimes it feels as if only one person is trying that hard and they have to keep doing that.

Your kids will be grown in the blink of an eye - do all you can to spend as much time as you can with them while they're small. And later - obviously - before they start to get embarrassed by you!

mf

Thank you for your advice, much appreciated