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Hoping for a few pointers here having seen my solicitor who painted a pretty bleak picture of contact centres and timeframes.
Firstly: Legal aid can take 3-4 months to be processed he says. Is representing yourself a complete nightmare and even so how long would it take to go to court?
Secondly: If i was to appear at a childs activity, like I normally would, and basically drove them away to my own house and did not return them (I know this is not advised just looking to know where I stand) then I understand it currently that if I have PR then the police will do very little about it, or would this be considered "snatching" of some sort?" However my main question is how long before a court manages to pry my child from me and return them if the judge sees fit? My process via a solicitor could take 6 months or longer and even then just give me some rubbish access to be improved upon over years and me missing out on my childs life, would she simply be able to get some kind of interim court order very quickly and have my child return? I understand fully this would work against me, I am more curious as to how that would work.
Background:
I lived with my 3 step children and 2 own children for 8 years. I moved out of the family home 2.5 years ago and have had holidays with my children, had them over to stay Fridays and Saturday and all Sunday, had them every second Monday or Thursday and as my ex partner and I were still in an on/off relationship I was round every other day anyway so I have had an extremely active part in their life. I also slept over all Christmases and birthdays
Since as incident 18 days ago I have had no contact, no phone calls, no visits. I have had a few empty promises via email but as each and every day goes by these empty promises are exactly what they are.
Incident: I returned to my parters (now ex) home with my daughter to pick up her Furby for repair, I walked in to find my current at the time partner in bed with another man. I called her a few choice names which is pretty normal if you ask me, then he assaulted me and I defended myself, all in front on my daughter. This was not reported to the police until 10 hours later. She then lied to the police and has since restricted all access. NIGHTMARE.
I am in Scotland btw.
I don't know a great deal about the Scottish system, although it is similar. I do know that one of our members, Kennymac, waited an awfully long time for his legal aid to be processed, it might help if you messaged him for more info.
Self representing is doable and there are many here that have taken this route.
I think your understanding about taking the children is right but, and its a big but...the ex Isis likely to rush to court to get an emergency residence order and if there were no serious safeguarding issues you are very likely to have to return them.thencontact would become really difficult. If you are tempted to do this call the police first and ask them what their procedure is in this regard.
It's such a pity that she has stopped contact, she is hurting the children by doing this as they will be missing you. I think it might be worth trying mediation to get things back on track. Court should always be a last resort.
Here's a link to a legal advice website for families in difficulty based in Scotland
www.sclc.org.uk
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