[Solved] Breach of Court Order - solicitor not helping!

Hi and welcome to the forum

Looking through your situation, I think if I was in your position, I would be inclined to dispense with your solicitor after the hearing this week, but I'd also check their complaints procedure and put in a complaint about why they haven't been responding to your mails.

I just thought I'd provide an update on what happened but also request a bit more advice! I decided to represent myself and I'm glad I did. My ex's position was that she wanted to reduce my midweek contact on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 hours to 1 hour and that I would also have to both pickup and drop off, (usually she did half), which meant with travel time I would have him at my property for around 40 minutes. I didn't think this was fair on my son and I refused to agree. The magistrates also felt this was unfair and asked if my ex would be willing to make the time up to me at the weekend. I'm currently meant to have him for 4 hours on Saturdays and 4 hours alternate Sundays. Her solicitor advised that from the feedback from the magistrates they felt they would be able to reach an agreement..

30 minutes later we go back into court and her (legal aid) solicitor advises that not only is she not willing to make the time up at the weekend but that she is suspending all contact until the contested hearing - some 6 weeks away! At this point, my ex and her solicitor have an argument in the middle of the court room. 😮

My ex ends up agreeing to allow the weekend contact to resume (from today), but that we'd have the contested hearing in 6 weeks regarding the midweek contact. She is putting him to bed at 6pm apparently, so with his 2 hour nap in the day our 8.5 month old son is supposedly having 16.5 hours sleep per day....

Well, yesterday my ex-texted me with a huge list of demands threatening to suspend the weekend contact, which she has now done. She claims she is worried that he won't settle for his 2 hour nap whilst in my care, so she instead offered me just 2 hours contact instead of 4. I have refused. I'm not 100% that this was the best idea, I've already missed out on around 50% of my sons life, it's just I feel I have to take some sort of stand. 🙁 She is walking all over me and has been in breach of the contact order since Jan 19th.

Now I have to prepare a position statement for the contested hearing, any pointers?

hi Regnix

OK, bear in mind that I'm not an expert, the following is my opinion based on the fact that I can look at things a little more objectively than you. One thing I would suggest is that you never, ever reply immediately to a text or email from your ex unless there is a good reason why you have to do so. Whenever I used to get texts from my ex, I always used to formulate a reply, and then show it to my wife for her opinion, that way I never sent a text that I would regret later on, and sometimes I didn't reply at all.

With regards to the text your ex has sent, and your reply, I would seriously consider sending another text along the lines of "Sorry, I was a bit quick to react to your last text, I would love to have my son for the 2 hours you are suggesting".

The reasons are:
1. Saying "sorry" shows that you were angry (and rightly so) but have had time to reconsider and you are doing what's best for you and your son.
2. Any contact is better than no contact at all
3. You are showing that you are not cutting off your nose to spite your face

What you have to consider, aside the effect that cutting contact will have on your son, even for a short while, is that all of this is going to go before a court. Their first consideration is the welfare of your son, so if you can show them evidence (ie the full text conversations) that your first priority is your son, then it's going to make your case much stronger - just consider how a judge would react seeing your ex's text, and then seeing your text and the one above - your first text is understandable, the text above will show that you are behaving as they would like. One of the things you have to do from now on is to be whiter than white in your dealings with your ex, and that way either she will start to behave reasonably, or she'll dig a big hole for herself in court, aand either way you and your son win.

Now you are representing yourself, we are able to ask our legal experts from CCLC to offer advice if you have any legal questions, and hopefully yoji will pop on at some point to give advice with your statements.

Thanks actd. All my emails & texts to my ex have been civil, so I have nothing to worry about there. Unfortunately, the way she phrased it was by asking if I agreed to have only 2 hours instead of 4, to which I said no (hastily), but they she advised that contact was suspended and withdrew the offer anyway. Last night and this morning she has been emailing me trying to get me to go through to her flat to discuss matters face to face as she is desperate to not go back to court. I have refused, but I have suggested that we go to mediation (she stormed out last time), or a public place. I also suggested that we could have a "round table" discussion at her solicitors, she has ignored all of these and keeps pressuring me to attend her property. I've told her no and asked her not to ask me again.

My solicitor has sent me a letter confirmed that my account with them has been closed, but they have also provided me with a draft index for the Trial Bundle, which I'm sure will be handy. They suggested I could write to the magistrates and have them instruct the otherside to put the trial bundle together - or i could ask them directly myself, which I think I might do tomorrow.

I have a question though, in court on Wednesday we agreed that weekend contact would be reinstated and a contested hearing was set for 6 weeks from now regarding midweek contact. The weekend contact has now been suspended by my ex (2 days after agreeing it in court!), do I have to wait for the contested hearing in April (which is the first 3 hour slot they have), or should I seek an emergency directions hearing before then? Would there be any benefit to that as it's already contested?

Hi Regnix,

Hope i can be of some help here.

The main factor at this point is that your Son is still under 1year of age, and like it or not but Courts are very often unwilling to take the extra step. In fact up until 1year Courts very often recommend contact being little and often especially if they are being breastfed.

Have you managed to have your midweek contact re-instated to Tues and Thursday for 2hrs? In my opinion you need to be prepared to give a little to gain a little here. Based on what you have said your main priority here needs to be to secure an Order. In so doing, you will have a "Contract" on what has been Ordered/Agreed.

At present, what if any Contact do you have that actually appears within a Court Order?

Also have you written your Position Statement yet?

Hi Yoji,

Thank you for the reply. I have an interim contact order for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with my ex doing collection. She wanted to reduce that to 1 hour with me doing both ways, which meant I would have him at my property for around 45 minutes, I didn't think it was fair on my son to accept that so its the reason we have a contested hearing in 6 weeks. My court order also states I should have 4 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on alternate Sundays. My ex agreed for this contact to resume whilst we wait for the contested hearing. However, yesterday my ex advised that she is suspending the weekend contact as well - just 2 day after agreeing it in court! So I have still not seen my son since the 19th of Jan.

I have not written my position statement yet, but I want contact to resume as per the order. The magistates told my ex that if she was reducing my midweek contact by 1 hour each day that they expected her to make the time up to me at the weekend - she refused. Also, we were meant to be having a review hearing in April, to discuss overnight contact from him being 1 year old in May. I'd be glad just to see him for an hour at the moment!

Hi Regnix,

OK so at the moment, your goal still needs to be to gain the final Contact Order.

In the meantime, i would write to your ex's Solicitor and highlight that: ()
- An interim Order that was agreed in Court has now been broken
- Contact has now fully ceased because of your ex and the fact that you are taking this forward
- The Magistrates were clear of [POINTS i.e. CONTACT TUES/THURS PLUS WEEKENDS] <--- Specify what as per Interim Order
- You would like Contact re-instating with immediate effect as per the Interim Order

Remember now that your issue here is the continuation of contact in the event of any Orders through any hearing. There is a guide for Position Statements at the top of this page if you need some pointers. Also if you would like any specifics regarding your case that you might include post back when its needed and i could probably offer some guidance.

Sorry to say it, but until your hearing, if contact has been stopped unconditionally you may need to bite the bullet and all you can do is to do the above ().

Thanks Yoji. I wrote to the other side this morning as per your suggestions, I emailed them a copy of the letter but I've also popped one in the post. I think the norm is to fax these letters but I don't really have access to a fax machine, so hopefully the email will suffice.

My solicitor had suggested that I could write to the Court to explain that I am now representing myself and ask if the Magistrates could make a direction (without attending court) that the Respondents Solicitors prepare the Practise Documents to incorporate into the Trial Bundle. Alternatively she suggests that the other side may simply agree to prepare the Practice Documents for my approval and the Trial Bundle?

I'd guess that if I asked their solicitors to do this that they would decline, so I am tempted to write to court to ask them to order the other side to do it, but how would I word such a letter? Is there a specific format that must be adhered to when writing to the Magistrates Court? I've not yet written to court whilst representing myself, so any guidance would be appreciated!

In anticipation of a reply from yoji, I thought I'd stick my thoughts in here. I would write to her solicitor to ask - on the assumption that they realise that if they don't comply, the court will order it anyway, the chances are that they will send you everything. If they don't comply, the court might have a few stern words to say to them.

I have just been through this recently as some will note.

The judge asked the other side to prepare the court bundle for the final hearing, however my ex kicked them in to touch 4weeks before the hearing and i was then told i had to prepare it myself as they would not be acting for her any further.

Luckily i had the bundle from the previous hearing and only needed to update the section with the position statements in. however with several hundred pages in total i had to ask my boss if i could use the photo copier out of hours if i paid for a couple of reams of paper.

i had to supply a copy to Court, copy to CAFCASS, copy to the ex, and keep myself a copy......quite a lot of paper!!

So if the other side will prepare it for your approval then that'll be a big help for you. if not then follow Yoji's advice....he certainly knows his stuff that guy!

Good luck

Hi Regnix,

I would agree technically with both yourself and actd here, however speaking from experience the Trial Bundle is often not submitted, thereby forcing a delay in the hearing if you see what i mean? Her Solicitors could use this as an opportunity to say this as you are now acting as a LIP.

Her Solicitor, if representing her could still decline preparing the Trial Bundle as you are now acting as a LIP, if you were at Court, they would however be asked to prepare it immediately. You would do better to contact her Solicitor directly to explain that you are now acting as Litigant in Person and ask if they can now prepare the File 4 for the [DATE OF HEARING].

If they do decline, i'm pretty sure its mentioned in one of the sticky's at the top what to include and a copy of this bundle is sent direct to the other party and the Court. If not just ask and i can give the list 🙂

I'd try that firstly before actually progressing with contacting the Court. In terms of if you do write, it would just be a standard letter and would just include something along the following lines:

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: [APPLICANT] vs [RESPONDENT] reference [CASE NUMBER]

I am writing to request that in light of my choosing to act as Litigant in Person that [RESPONDENT SOLICITOR] now prepare the Trial Bundle File 4 by the date of [DATE REQUIRED AS SET OUT BY COURT]

etc etc

Yours faithfully,

Sign Here

[YOU]

In terms of the Position Statement i can give some guidance too but that is some time away.

Hi guys, here's an update on what has happened so far. I wrote to my ex's solicitor asking them to prepare the trial bundle and they have written back agreeing to do this. Great! So now I just have to prepare my position statement and file by next Wednesday. I understand my ex has just prepared a draft of hers.

However, in other developments. My ex has been in touch and advised that she does not want to go back to court for the contested hearing. She has been to see her solicitor and ended up storming out of the building apparently! She has offered me 8 hours of contact every Saturday and 2 hours during midweek, flexible, to fit around my work commitments! So basically, she is offering me the 10 hours per week which I should be having as per the interim contact order. I've said I won't cancel the contested hearing until I'm satisfied that she will keep this contact up.. the contested hearing is listed for the 3rd of April so I've got a bit of time. So far, I had him last Saturday for 8 hours and will hopefully be seeing him again this coming Saturday!

My latest question is this, if I cancel the contested hearing, when will we next be back in court? We previously had a review hearing for the 15th of April, will this have been cancelled when the contested hearing was listed? Should I write to the courts to find this out or is it something the other side could tell me? Thanks!

Hi Regnix,

To be clear on this, and i'm sure others on here will back me up on this... you have no guarantee she will continue the hours you are requesting.

If you cancel the Contested Hearing... that is the end of the matter... and if Contact is broken it will need a whole new Application to be submitted. "Remember, you've closed the Case"

.

The best advice i can possibly give in this situation is to talk to your ex and explain that because of previous instances where Contact has broken down, if she is agreeing to your seeing your child for 10hrs, at the Contested Hearing she now needs to agree that this will be the case and that this is now agreed to be put into a legally binding order that can be enforced.

There is a more than likely chance she is doing it just to get you to drop a case you will more than likely win... its a common tactic.

Speaking from experience here you can be promised the world and get a pebble.

I agree with yoji on this - get the order. However, a question for yoji - the answer to which may help - could regnix's ex write a letter to court offering the contact so that the court can make the order without the ex having to turn up? That may be a good compromise - and if the ex isn't willing to write the letter (or to sign it if Regnix types it up), then it shows that she's probably going to break the agreement anyway.

Hi actd,

Yes thats a fair point. She will need to have her solicitor writing a letter of agreement to Regnix's wishes to be put into an order. This letter then needs to be signed by both her and ideally her solicitor as well.

A copy needs to be sent to the court and one to Regnix. I would also say you will still need to attend the listed hearing to formally request this 10hrs so take the letter along with you.

If there are any doubts they need to be ironed out with time in advance to allow the letters reaching the court.

Thanks for the replies guys. My ex doesn't want me to drop the case, but just doesn't want the contested hearing. So she was hoping we could cancel the contested hearing and just have the review hearing as was originally listed.. I'm not sure if that is still listed though? I think I'll check with her solicitor. She knows I won't be stopping the court process, as I want (and need!) a final contact order.

I believe that she is sincere about sticking to the 10 hours tough, I had him again yesterday and she has let me attend his first time at the swimming baths this morning. So definitely big progress! She knows I am going to call in to her solicitors tomorrow to hand in my Position Statement, and she asked me if I would deliver hers as well - it's not in an envelope. Basically hers just says that we have agreed to 10 hours per week and that she hopes this agreement works, that is it. There is no talk of future contact or any increases to be discussed in the future. Is that normal?

For my position statement I was going to explain that my ex had been unable to stick to the interim contact order (on numerous occasions) but we have managed to reach an agreement and for the time being contact has been progressing. It is my hope that this will continue and progress to overnight contact now that my son is being weaned. I might add a paragraph about having some sort of prosecution clause in the order as she has broken the interim contact order 3 times now and that court hasn't done anything regarding that.

Oh, one other thing. At the last hearing, the magistrates did say that they hoped the contested hearing would not be required and that if we were able to work something out I should just let the court know. I took it to mean that we would still be going back for the review of the interim contact order, but that we could potentially cancel the contested hearing (which is listed for half a day!)...

This sounds like some real progress - I don't know the technicalities of going back to the original hearing, hopefully yoji will shed some more light on this, but it's looking fairly hopefull. It might be worth putting in something along the lines that you would hope to have contact increased in the near future and see if you can have the court add this in.