Maybe your ex’s new partner is the person that they cheated on you with, making the continued relationship feel a bit like a slap in your face.
Perhaps they simply float from one short relationship to another, and you worry about your children becoming attached to people that won’t have a lasting role in their lives. Your children might have special needs that you feel a stranger may not adequately meet.
Whatever the cause for concern, you may want to prevent your ex from introducing your children to their new love interest. Can you ask the family courts to intervene and prevent your ex from introducing your kids to someone new?
The courts will not micromanage co-parenting relationships
The point of a parenting plan or custody order is to establish rules that make it easier for parents to share custody after a divorce. While the courts will enforce the order, they do not want to involve themselves in the personal disputes between former partners.
If you want to keep your ex from introducing your children to a new partner after the divorce, you will need to convince the court that doing so is in the best interest of the children.
3 possible ways to protect your children from a new romantic interest
You will generally not be able to micromanage everything your ex does with the kids during their parenting time, but you may be able to suggest specific conditions in your custody order that you can then use to keep your kids away from that new girlfriend or boyfriend.
Asking for the right of first refusal for custody is one option. Your ex can’t leave the kids with someone unless they offer that parenting time to you first, which means they can’t use their new partner as a babysitter. You could also create a pre-approved list of those who can be alone with your children, although your ex may eventually try to modify that part of the custody order to add their new romantic partner.
Finally, in rare cases, you could ask the court to specifically exclude a romantic partner if they represent a threat to your children. A history of addiction or the removal of their own children from their custody could be enough to convince a judge that this person should not be around your children.
Learning more about how to change and enforce your custody arrangements will help you handle the stresses of co-parenting after a divorce.