This is very hard to predict.
On one hand, there’s a 15-year-old (and possibly an 11-year-old) here whose views would have some sway to the Court. The Court knows kids will eventually vote with their feet, so it doesn’t tend to impose stringent orders on kids who are, at least in the case of the 15-year-old, so close to the age of majority anyway.
On the other, there’s two younger kids whose views will be much less persuasive, and even if the 15-year-old does tell a report writer that he wants to live with Dad, the two younger kids’ views will have a lot less weight, and that enormous 3.5-year space of virtually no contact means the Court may not put much weight in any of their views anyway.
Getting time with the kids will be easy enough - you’ll most likely be looking at at least half school holidays without any issues. I don’t think it would be incremental increases like others have suggested - we are talking about older kids and a Dad who was presumably involved for 12 years leading up to the relocation. I don’t know that a 15-year-old or 11-year-old would have forgotten anything about their dad in his 3.5 years of absence. The 8-year-old might be a bit hazy, but with the presence of the older two, they should cope just fine with a block of 7 to 10 days away from mum every three months.
But residency in the circumstances seems unlikely. The Court won’t likely see it in the children’s best interests to reverse residency after 3.5 years of no contact, and in fact the Court will likely see your inaction against no contact as implied agreement.
You can try for residency, of course, but I just don’t think you will get it.
On one hand, there’s a 15-year-old (and possibly an 11-year-old) here whose views would have some sway to the Court. The Court knows kids will eventually vote with their feet, so it doesn’t tend to impose stringent orders on kids who are, at least in the case of the 15-year-old, so close to the age of majority anyway.
On the other, there’s two younger kids whose views will be much less persuasive, and even if the 15-year-old does tell a report writer that he wants to live with Dad, the two younger kids’ views will have a lot less weight, and that enormous 3.5-year space of virtually no contact means the Court may not put much weight in any of their views anyway.
Getting time with the kids will be easy enough - you’ll most likely be looking at at least half school holidays without any issues. I don’t think it would be incremental increases like others have suggested - we are talking about older kids and a Dad who was presumably involved for 12 years leading up to the relocation. I don’t know that a 15-year-old or 11-year-old would have forgotten anything about their dad in his 3.5 years of absence. The 8-year-old might be a bit hazy, but with the presence of the older two, they should cope just fine with a block of 7 to 10 days away from mum every three months.
But residency in the circumstances seems unlikely. The Court won’t likely see it in the children’s best interests to reverse residency after 3.5 years of no contact, and in fact the Court will likely see your inaction against no contact as implied agreement.
You can try for residency, of course, but I just don’t think you will get it.
