Changes to Access

Court order was granted over a year ago that decided who had residency of children. Ex partner was to get every second weekend and during holidays with specific pick-up and drop off times.

Since court order, ex partner splits children up with half going to ex-partners house and the others going to ex-partners parents house (different towns). In some cases it is months between some children spending time with ex-partner as they are always at ex-partners parents house instead (ex-partners parents pick up and drop off the children from court ordered pick-up point).

Can court order be changed for force ex-partner to take ALL children, not just some?

Ex-partner has also had multiple partners since split, and has introduced children to most, but relationships don't tend to last long. There is a worry that this could have detrimental impact on children but ex-partner gets very defensive when it's suggested waiting longer before introducing children to new partners. Again, could something like that be put in a court order, to ensure it's a stable relationship before children meet them?

Finally, who pays costs of going to court for both examples? Are costs usually shared?

Well, a parent cannot be forced to have contact so, no, the ex partner cannot be forced to have all the children. What the custodial parent can do is to refuse contact. Whether that is better or worse for the children than the present split arrangement is debatable. This is a decision for the custodial parent and it is not necessarily an easy one.

Going to court about children should always be regarded as a last resort. I doubt that it is going to help in this case because the ex partner cannot be forced to have contact. In the event that a court application is made the rule is almost invariably that each side pays its own costs. If it were anything else that would probably just add bitterness to the mix.

Thanks for your response David, it's very helpful. I presume then that if the resident parent complained to the court that splitting the children is unfair, it could result in a costly battle whereby the ex could dispute this?

Would the court not look more favourably towards having all siblings together during contact? Wouldn't the ex need to justify themselves as to why they are only having some at a time?

Does any of that affect whether a person can be forced to have children against his/her will? It doesn't as far as I can see.