[Solved] Feeling let down

Hi there

That's terrible! You do have grounds to complain, but you must first complain to the solicitor that provided the poor service. You must give them 8 weeks to respond, if you're not satisfied with their response you can then escalate it up to the Omsbudsman. Here's a link with more information. The body involved with solicitors is the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA)

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page

You can appeal, but not because of any decisions the court made, it would have to be because of a procedural error. You have three weeks to appeal.

At the time of the hearing, did you explain that the solicitor had let you down? How long ago was the final hearing?

You could try writing to the court to explain how badly let down you were by your solicitor and have started the complaints process against them, explain that you feel that his had a bearing on your case and the outcome and ask if there's any way that the case could be bought back before them for further consideration.

Alternatively you could wait a few months and make a fresh application to vary the current order.

Without knowing the details of your case, its difficult to give any specific advice,

All the best

so what did happen,, was it that bad,, sorry,,

Thanks for the reply. The day before the first hearing i had a phone call from my solicitor saying i can't make your hearing as i have an urgent case i cant get out of but dont worry i have a very good barrister freind who will be representing you. This sent me into a bit of a flat spin as i hadnt spoken to this barrister and was expecting my solicitor to be there for me whom i felt some confidence in at the time.
The first hearing came and went and i felt as happy as anyone can given how limited the starting point of the contact has to be due to being denied any access to my child for no good reason at all, which cafcass pointed out in their report and that there were no welfare concerns we both had parental responsibility amd the mother shouldn't seek to limit my responsibility in any way. Cafcass had no further involvement.

The outcome of this first hearing was progressive, and built up to me having my son alternate weekends and contact through the week.
This was still less than i wanted but was hopeful that at the next hearing we could get more. Although id had to sell the car to get legal help and had rely on other peoples transport i was told i had to do all the collecting and dropping off. Ok well ill walk to see him if i need to but this still seemed a little unfair.
We were told to have our position statement complete by a certain date so i wrote a few things down but ultimately my solicitor said he would call me in and we would sit down and go through things together. The date approached and i heard nothing. I chased them up but didnt hear back from him, spoke with his secretary but she couldn't really advise me. Meanwhile the respondant was trying to frustrate things further threatening to cease contact for no good reason at all again just pure spite.
I had called in to the solicitors building a few times worried by what she was threatening but my solicitor was rarely available and on one occasion i spoke with another who offered advice.
I ended up going in to the solicitors a few days before the statement was due in and eventually sat down with my solicitor and went through everything that i wanted. I pointed out that the deadline was less than a week away and i was starting to panic, the courts had made it clear it needed to be complete by a certain date.
My solicitor said it doesnt matter about that dont worry about it, it wont make any diffference when we have it in by.
The day of the final hearing arrived, my solicitor had told.me to be there by a certain time and was 15 mins late due to parking issues. We had a discussion and he was backwards and forwards between rooms. There was even a mention of the case having to be adjourned due to my statement being handed in so late.
The first thing one of the bench said was "why was your statement over a month late when the court made it clear it had to be in by a certain date!?". My solicitor commented on how he had been waiting for this that and the other and waffled on a bit whilst i sat there feeling like an idiot. The respondant had hers done and in on time, i hadnt. Had it been myself doing it, it would have been in on time.
The hearing progressed and my solicitor pointed out everything i was hoping for which wasnt a great deal more than i had now just more contact through the week.
We asked if collection could be shared.
The respondant then spoke and made a few blatant lies etc then the bench retired to make a decision.
They came back and i got nothing i had asked for other than standard things like half of school holidays and access to a passport. My contact would actually regress because she had placed him in nursery care meaning i couldn't pick him up until he finished on the friday i had him! So i lost time with him here and gained less through the week!. A bit astpunded we left with my head spinning. Ive yet to recieve the official court paperwork and the draft from my solicitor but i dont feel like ive recieved the level of service ill be asked to pay for and badlt let down. Its been less than a week since all of this happened and want to act quickly if there is anything i can do.
What would be the best way of tackling this?

What other details would be needed for people to understand better my position without obviously giving too much away. I already know ive been under surveillance, it was even in the respondants statement! The final decision as far as i can remmeber had no progression whatsoever. Only thatt we as parents would have to make decisions together going forwards. This was the very reason we had gone to court, because i always wanted too much and she was disagreeable to everything i wanted!

Contact on alternate weekends and midweek, with an equal share of holidays is actually the norm for many. The fact that extra time should be decided between you both is also quite common. I think you've received the fall back position, that many courts seem to favour, so I don't think that your solicitors behaviour has influenced things to be honest. If your child hasn't started main stream school, this could be another reason for them ordering this schedule and not progressing it as you asked.

I've provided a link above if you want to complain about the solicitor. My advice would be to see how the contact goes for the next six months or so and if you still feel that you would like to change the order, you can apply for a variation.

So would you not recommmend i make a complaint? I do feel let down by the fact that my personal statement was over a month late. This does not reflect who i am as a person and how i go about things and noone can say whether it did or didnt have a bearing on the outcome. In terms of contact it has regressed from what i had as i can now only pick him up after nursery rather than at the beginning of the day like before which will shorten my weekend with him. Having to pay a barrister who had to stand in for my solicitor didnt seem right either, although he did say it would be a fixed fee and that it would work out cheaper that way. I still havent recieved an invoive but now im being told the fixed fee amount is a lot higher than was originally suggeated.
As far as the court system itself goes i didnt receive any paperwork telling me when the date of the hearing would be, nothing. Apparantly there had been an "administration" error and i only got this information via my solicitor.
Although like you say i may have ended up with what seems like normal contact it was mentioned that paid care should never trump parental care which is exactly whats happening here. Im around to care for him whilst she isnt and yet hes doing more hours at nursery on 3 days of the week than most people do at work.

If you feel let down and received bad service, then there's a complaints procedure as set out in the link I provided.

Did you get a fixed fee price from the barrister in writing, or was it just a verbal quote? Again if you feel unfairly treated then you must take it up with the barrister before escalating it.

I agree with you that paid care shouldn't trump parental care, it wouldn't hurt to write directly to the Magistrates that made the final order, make an apology for what happened and explain that your solicitor let you down badly and you are in the process of making a formal complaint. That you hadn't met the barrister prior to the hearing and how it served to put you in an unsettled and stressed situation, which didn't reflect well on you as a person. Ask if the case may be brought back for further consideration, specifically concerning the loss of your time on Friday, when prior to the case, you had him from the morning... explain that the additional full day at nursery isn't in his best interests, when he could be spending that time with you, which has been his routine.

They do have the discretion to bring it back, but there are no guarantees. If they won't bring it back, you could apply for a Specific Issue Orderor a variation, to address the friday contact.

If you feel that the court didn't give full consideration to his best interests with regard to the extra day at nursery, where before his routine was to spend it with you, you could try for an appeal. I'm not very well versed on the appeals process, but I do know you have three weeks to make the application. It might help to give the Children's Law Adviceline a call and get some legal advice on this. Here's a link to their contact details

http://childlawadvice.org.uk/clas/contact-child-law-advice/

All the best

Thank you. I shall explore all of those avenues and hope for the best. I shall let people know how i get on.

Hi

Mojo has given you very good advice and I agree with everything they have said.

When it comes down to it. it is two separate issues here 1) your solicitor's conduct and 2) your feelings about the court's decision and they must be treated as such if you intend to complain.

With regard to the court's decision - unfortunately, when parents can't agree the court have to make a decision and as Mojo says, the decision you have is the norm in most cases. I doubt anything you could have said or done would have brought about a different decision, especially from Magistrates.

In terms of nursery - how old is your child? Most children go to morning nursery once they turn 3 and whilst I understand this affects your contact for a few hours, it will do your son the world of good to have a routine and be spending time with other children. Does the mother work? Could she have put him in nursery for that reason?

I think really, you need to think about whether you want to complain about your solicitor's conduct as they don't sound very professional.

In terms of the court decision, I think it is likely to have been the same whether you used a solicitor or not. You can try writing to them as Mojo suggests but I wouldn't hold out much hope of them bringing it back.

Best of luck

He is 3 early next year. I am of the same belief, nursery will do him the world of good and i want him to go. A decision was made unilaterally by his mam to put him in for 30 hours per week as i know this suits her needs at the moment. I would notnhave chosen to put him in for so long. I believe it would be in his best interests to spend the extra hours with me on the friday. That wont impact on his socialising at all and will give him the benefit of his dads undivided attention.
Noone can say whether my statement being late has effected the outcome including myself but i believe my solicitors poor representation gas painted me in a poor light and this was their initial focus at the beginning of the final hearing. I didnt recieve any paper work from the court givong me the time and date of the final hearing which was a failing on their behalf and had to chase my solicitor for it.
Like you say two seperate issues but linked. Me being made to look bad csn only have had a negative impact on the bench, whether the outcome would have been different like you say mayve not. This isnt sour grapes, this is the best interests of my son and i still believe paid car shouldnt be trumping my care. Thanks for everyones help i ll make sure ill get all of this formalised amd go from there