Help!

Hi,

I need some legal advice please.

I've been divorced for about 8 years now - it was not amicable and my ex- has been living with, and recently married the woman, he was having an affair with whilst we were married. To be absolutely fair it was not a happy marriage.

We had two children together - the eldest is 21 and jis ust finishing his final year at University. He managed to get a full grant on the basis of my part-time salary despite the fact that my ex is a senior civil servant on a good income. My eldest does see his father and they are good friends but never sleeps over.

Our youngest is 17 and has Downs Syndrome. 

Since our seperation we agreed between us that in order for me to continue working p/t (shift work)  my ex would have him every other w/e and one week night a fortnight. This has been how we've done it since then and it has also enabled him to continue working f/t and progress his career.

He, my ex, is now seeking to change this set up and wants access 50/50 - one week on and one week off. Apart from the problems that this would create with my work which allows little flexibility I don't want to be seperated from my son for a week at a time.

My ex is saying that I've been excluding him from important decisions about our son, which I'm certainly not aware of, but won't site exactly what until I agree that we have shared care and equal parental responsibilities.

I'm very reluctant to agree this and wondered where I stood from a legal point of view as I believe that I am my son's principal carer.

Obviously this is just a very brief over view. I'm happy to answer any questions relevant to this and would really appreciate some advice and/or guidance as to who I could speak to about this.

Thank you for listening!

x