Ex husband is moving in with new partner and is telling

Hello again and apologies for my delay in responding further.

If it comes to a custody battlle the court will decide who has primary care for the child based on what it considers is in the child's best interests. Based on what you have said, there are a number of strong factors which which on balance, would likely incline the court to allow you to retain custody, such as:

- If you have been the primary carer of the child for its whole life, whilst the father has thus far only had custody every second weekend, then that is very much in your favour. Courts give considerable weight to stability and this will become even more of an issue once the child starts school.

- If the father is a detective, it is likely his work will be at times quite demanding and he may well work irregular hours. If you are either a stay at home mother or have more stable work, then likely a court would favour you as the primary custodian of the child.

- Whilst financial factors may weigh in his favour the will likely only be given significant weight if your situation is so dire that you cannot affort to properly look after the child.

- If you reside in close proximity to your large extended family, and they have a role in your child's life, then a court may well consider this an extra reason not to have the child move away from this extended family support network.

For the above reasons, if the father seeks orders from the court, or otherwise simply fails to return the child at some point, you should legally challenge such a move immediately and I expect you would have good prospects of succeeding, though i do strongly recommend you engage a family lawyer to assist you in such circumstances. Urgent action would be required as the longer the child is left with the father, the more the 'stability' arguments raised above will start to favour the father, so do not leave it weeks or months before acting if such action is necessary.

As to preventing the father from saying such things to the child, legally is all you can do is make an application to the court to make him stop, but proving he is persisting may prove difficult and would likely ultimately require the involvement of a psychologist. If you wish to pursue such an issue before the court, you will need to engage a family lawyer. All I can suggest otherwise is that you simply ask the father in writing to stop saying such things as they are upsetting and confusing your child. An email/letter to that effect may later be relevant should the issue later need to be resolved through court proceedings.

I trust the above assists.

Good luck and please rate my answer.

Patrick