[Solved] Now have to attend a Fact Finding Hearing

Once you receive the Scott Schedule, you respond to each allegation in writing and provide any evidence you can to support your responses. The court then make a finding on each allegation. It's possible you will also submit further statements if you haven't been ordered to already. What further report have CAFCASS been instructed to undertake?

If you can prove you didn't do these things then you need to back it up with evidence. if you cannot prove it but you didn't do it then you have to put something in like i had to....like Denied in general.

just to give you an idea of what the allegations page looks like on a Scott Schedule i've attached an edited version of mine from about 4yrs ago.

her allegations go in the first colum your response in the next with notes on evidence

if you're represented the solicitor should do this for you.

Wait, isnt the onus on the accuser to prove that I assulted her? Photos of bruises dont mean someone caused them, she needs to prove that there is a more than 50% chance I did.

All I have is my word and the fact that during our entire marriage she never once called the police. However i appreciate that this doesnt prove what she alleges didnt happen but thats all i have.

She's set me up.

Yes the onus is on the accuser but the accused also has work to do to prove innocence. It's based on a balance of probability as you have mentioned.

One way around the FF is to take the stand of "should findings be found, they won't constitute a bar to contact". As you are already in a contact centre, the discussion should be on:

1. how much longer does supervised contact continue
2. when should unsupervised / supported contact start

Have you started the DVPP course?

@Yoda, evidences are not attached to Scott Schedules / responses. They are attached in the court bundle, which also contains the Scott Schedule .

@halfoyster

I think you have taken my words slightly out of context, I did not suggest BM attaches evidence to his Scott Schedule, I believe I said 'provide any evidence you can to support your responses'.

What you have advised is only partially true. It would depend on the directions of the judge, whether the FoF is being combined with a Final Hearing and whether the parties are represented.

For example - a court may order full statements (which you may attach evidence to) to accompany the SS, both parties might be LIP's which carries no legal requirement (under Practice Direction 27a) for either party to provide a bundle. Only the respondent may have representation which can hinder what evidence the applicant would like to be used.

It is standard practice for counsel to provide bundles ongoing through proceedings, for LIPs it is only necessary for Final Hearings and even then, (as stated above) there is no legal requirement to do so.

@BM - how you getting on with it all?

@Yoda

You're right. I think both parties are LIPs if i recall correctly. SS normally is submitted weeks before the hearing.

His ex is legally represented actually, so if a bundle is ordered it will be their responsibility to provide it, or at least the index. Yoda is right, when this is the case it can have implications for the LIP applicant, they should provide the index and invite the other party to include any documents/evidence, should being the operative word, as sometimes this isn't the case.

@halfoyster...Yoda is very knowledgeable and wouldn't give advice unless it wasnt already known or verified first. It seems to me that sometimes you rush to try and undermine the advice Moderators give, as in this case by not reading Yodas post properly, why is that? ....it's nothing personal, just intrigued.

Why should I go on a DViP course when Im innocent? I made a threat but it was out of character and happened once after intense antagonism. One recording is not proof of systematic abuse to warrant me going on a course for 6 months. Anyway, i cant get on it unless i admit to DV which I will never do cos im innocent.

Ive received the mothers scott schedule.

- her main argument is the recording where i make the threat
- photos of injuries she claims i caused not dated

I will respond but since she has not dated the photos i cant even defend it properly beyond I didnt do it.

The only thing in my favour is that the police investigated everything and did not press charges. They even listened to the recordings where i make the threat and didnt even give me a caution, which you wouldve expected. I guess they accepted my side of the story that i was set up and bear baited by ex so she could make the recording.

The bundle has already been created but the last final hearing was postponed since cafcass never turned up. They'll be another final hearing after the fact finding.

Can someone explain the how I can argue that the whatever findings are made they should not influence how confact is progressed.

Hi BMurkin,

I agree with you in every way. Do not agree to attend a DVPP. If you are innocent you have nothing to worry about.

Don't allow yourself to be rail roaded by the judiciary either. State you were antagonized and goaded. I have it from my ex even in the Court room.

Stick to your guns

I tried to self refer in private. I thought, ok I did make a threat and that needs to be addressed, so its lets get it done early. However, they couldn't accept me since I was in the middle of a child arrangement matter.

However, I have completed the following courses:

- 10 week Parenting Puzzle course that taught me effective ways to deal with conflicts and minimise impact on children
- 6 week NHS Cognitive Behavioural Therapy which taught me skills to better manage angry emotions
- I am about to start a 10 week Anger Management program

I believe that this is sufficient considering the circumstances of my threat. The DVIP was created for abusers who systematically abused their partners over many months and years. I made one stupid threat in the heat of the moment after years worth of antagonism and abuse. If I had been systematically abusing my ex over many years like she claims then why does she only have recording one week before I received my ex parte non molestation order. She has clearly been collecting so called evidence against me so why aren't any recording of assaults and verbal abuse in 2012 to 2015. Why has she only submitted one? You can argue one is enough but it doesnt prove systematic abuse.

If anything, she should go on the DVIP course because 99% of the recording is me having an emotional ramble about her emotional abuse and antagonism, ending in me making the threat that if she doesnt stop I'll end her. It was a stupid thing to say but I was desperate for her to stop. The threats were made by a desperate and upset man not a wife beater,

I just need to find a way to show the courts this.

I think the courses you have undertaken and the one you are about to start will illustrate your intentions and should be enough to show the judge that you have been extremely proactive in addressing the issues, it also shows how seriously you take the court process and how much you want to be a good father to your child.