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Hi.
I am filling in the C100 and would really appreciate any assistance with section 3b which asks for details on previous arrangements, reasons for bringing to court, and what you want the court to do. I am applying to get a child arrangements order.
I have drafted the following and would appreciate it if anyone who has also been through the same, could offer any tips or suggestions, or OK what I have done ?
I appreciate any help.
SECTION 3B
Following our separation in 2011 we agreed that I would have our daughter every other weekend. As our daughter was in nursery I was also allowed additional time during Easter, summer, and Christmas especially for going on holidays. When she started school/reception we then agreed that additionally on top of the alternating weekends, that we would share all school holidays and inset days 50%/50% each. A “schedule of care” is drafted annually by Mum and e-mailed to me so that I know exactly what weekends and school holidays I am having our daughter throughout each year. Provision was also made verbally that I was able to telephone and speak to our daughter 2 – 3 times a week or talk on Skype.
Arrangements were changed suddeny when the ex phoned me to advise that I was to have no further contact with our daughter regarding an incident that our daughter had told her about that had apparently occurred whilst on holiday with me and my family this summer. Since then, I have not been allowed to have our daughter stay with me for a full weekend, nor was I allowed the 3 nights during October half term that was agreed at the beginning of the year. Instead, I have only been allowed 4 overnight stays with me and my family.
There was no further action over the allegation and mediation was recommended to try and sort it out, which I am strongly in favour of. Unfortunately, The ex has not made any effort to attend a MIAM despite the mediator attempting to get her booked in for a MIAM on various occasions. I attended my MIAM.
The ex refuses to revert back to our agreed schedule of care, and so far she has advised me that the only contact I will get with our daughter in November will be 2 days/nights.
On previous occasions during the last 3 years she has threatened to stop my access and tries to control our activities when our daughter is with me, she has also regularly over the past criticised my safeguarding of our daughter and made false accusations about my stepson.
I am bringing this to court as I want to ensure regular, guaranteed quality time with myself and my family which my daughter is fully a part of. The normal contact that my daughter has had for the best part of over four and a half years to be changed literally overnight, has caused us all a great deal of distress, upset, confusion and uncertainty.
As some level of overnight contact has happened since The summer, when arrangements were stopped initially, I can see no reason now why previous arrangements cannot resume, so I would ask that the court seek to support me in getting my normal contact back to normal as swiftly as possible so that everybody knows exactly where they stand. The recent disruption of contact has had a very negative effect on my daughter and is causing her unecessary distress. Additionally, I would also like to request one extra overnight contact in between my alternate weekends, as I feel that my daughter would strongly benefit from weekly contact, as 11 nights is too long a time between contact visits. I would like to propose one night on either the Thursday or Friday night following the weekend that I have our daughter as due to my employment and regular travel away from home, these nights would be much easier for me to commit to.
Hi there
At this stage the amount of information you are providing is far too detailed. If you notice, there's a sentence in bold that states ...do not give a full statement please provide a summary of any relevant reasons....you may be asked to provide a full statement later.
All that is necessary to state is
Since our separation in 2011 contact has been alternate weekends from Friday to Monday and since 2013 school holidays have been shared on a 50/50 basis, plus Skype/telephone contact 3 x weekly. Contact has been consistent and working well until it broke down in August 2015 due to unfounded allegations made against my wife whist on a family holiday. After investigation no further action was required and mediation was recommended. Miss xxxxx was contacted and has ignored all requests by the mediator to attend mediation.
Overnight contact has resumed but has been severely limited, which has had a very negative impact on xxxx. I would like the court to assist me in returning contact to what it has been for the previous four years with the inclusion of an additional midweek overnight stay, as 11 days between contact visits is too long and I feel my daughter would benefit from weekly contact.
I feel that Miss xxxx allowing resumption of overnight contact, albeit vastly reduced, is surely an indication that she considers there are no safeguarding issues, so I cannot understand why she is refusing to mediate or to return to our previous schedule.
I have edited some of your post, removing specific dates. It's always best to try and remain as anonymous as possible as this is a public forum, you have provided enough information in your post for you to be identified by it in my opinion. It might be a good idea to edit it further and take out anything that can be applied to your personal circumstances.
Thank you so much Mojo. I'm not the best at getting my thoughts condensed so I really appreciate you taking time to help me.
You're welcome, sometimes when we're too close to a situation it's difficult not to be emotive.
As I mentioned, it would be better to reduce your initial post right down now so that it can't be linked to you. If there's anything else that you need help with just post in the pertinent section and someone will be along to help.
Great - I'll definitely take your advice. Sorry but what do you mean by pertinent section ? I'm new to all of this 🙂
If you notice on the index page, the forum is split into sections, including child maintenance, legal eagle, relationships etc. so if you have a question about court you would post it in the legal section, if you have a query about maintenance payments that would go in the child maintenance section and so on.
The section you have posted in here is the Welcome section, where new members come to introduce themselves... It's best not to use this section to ask for advice as its a rarely visited section by most members, it's usually the moderators that respond here to say hello!
The Legal Eagle section is without doubt our busiest part of the forum, have a look around and get yourself acquainted with the forum, we're a friendly bunch and will help where we can. 🙂
Thanks again - I'll no doubt be in touch over the coming weeks/months. Thanks
...For your safety I've edited your initial post further to make it less informative.
Thanks Mojo.
I received my FM1 form from mediator and submitted the C100 yesterday to the courts, along with a covering letter asking them to contact me to take payment on my card for court fee's.
In your experience, whilst I am awaiting the first hearing date, should I prepare myself in any way for that first hearing ? I can compile a folder together if I need to.
I have kept a diary of events daily including all contact I've had with both my Daughter and my Ex since access arrangements stopped/changed back in August. I also have taken photo's every time I've had my daughter since then and also kept texts to and from my ex. I wasn't sure how far I have to go in preparing for my first hearing really. I am under the impression that my ex will not be able to afford a solicitor so I am presuming she will be representing herself too, if this needs to be taken into account.
I managed to get my ex to confirm by text that I have my daughter the following 2 Saturday's (including overnight) so god forbid she refuses access once courts get in touch with her, I will be able to show evidence we had arrangements in place which changed when she found out the courts are now involved.
Once again - thanks for taking time to help me thus far.
There's not too much preparation at this stage....read through the stickys at the top of the legal eagle section, so that you get a feel for the court process. You should get a letter from CAFCASS about an interview for the purpose of a short report (schedule 2 letter) for court. It is highly likely to be a telephone interview and there is a helpful sticky about CAFCASS dos and donts too.
It won't hurt to start putting your file together, in chronological order.
It's pretty common for the mothers to stop contact when they receive the court paperwork, be prepared.
It should take a week or two to get the papers back from court and a further 4-8 weeks until the first hearing.... This is just a rough estimate.
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