My ex-husband has been out of our childrens' lives for over three years now, and now he is calling and wants to talk to them. They are acting out at home and at school, which wasn't happening before. It is definitely upsetting them to have him re-entering their lives after all this time. Can I go to the county court and ask that his rights to have contact with them be relinquished?

No, a judge will not agree to that. My daughter's father has never seen my daughter nor paid for child support and it has been about four years and they won't relinquish his rights, they won't even let me change my daughter's last name.

I am afraid not. Just because you don't like him or the relationship he has with the kids doesn't mean you get to make the decisions.

Is he paying support?

My ex-husband has been out of our childrens' lives for over three years now, and now he is calling and wants to talk to them. They are acting out at home and at school, which wasn't happening before. It is definitely upsetting them to have him re-entering their lives after all this time. Can I go to the county court and ask that his rights to have contact with them be relinquished?

Could it be that its because this situation isn't being encouraged at home and the children find it all confusing? That's what it sounds like. In most cases where there has been a loss of contact it is recommended to re-establish contact it usually starts with phone calls etc and builds to more time. Isn't the important thing the children and building a relationship with their dad ?

You can't go to court and ask them to stop him from trying. Actually you could lose custody if you try that. Its called parental alienation and that's what the courts will look at as well as " best interest " of the children.

What you need to do is work with the father, perhaps get the kids into counseling to help them adjust to having their father in their life.

Does he live close enough to have real visits, perhaps there should be attempts in working him back into the children's lifes