[Solved] Fact Finding Help

As you have a solicitor that's something you have you can get legal questions answered.

With regards to "can the mother stop me from indefinitely seeing my son" if the courts decide there is no reason to stop you from seeing your child then legally no she cannot, however, that may not stop her from trying to if she's like my ex!

If she's that way inclined then it coud take a lot to get through to her that she's not doing whats best for your child if she prevents contact.

all you can do is keep your nose clean, jump through hoops and do everything to apease the courts, above all else be truthful and honest. the ones lying will be seen through eventually or straight away if you get a good judge and CAFCASS officer....those are a bit of a lottery if you read many of the members stories.
There are good results and bad results, just don't give up

Hi,

Thanks for your reply; do you know essentially what happens at the fact finding though, would I just get asked questions?

I just want to make sure I'm 100% prepared for everything she has to chuck at me!

I also tried to get Cafcass to tell the courts I think it's in my son's best interest for him to live with me, due to his mums alcohol issues, in addition my son's mum's mum is physically and emotionally abusive towards my son's mum. I told cafcass this as well, but it seems the court this time round favoured the mother over me! Is there anyway I can fight this?

Thanks 🙂

At a Finding of Fact there will be a list of alleagtions or points that need to be looked at as to what is true and what is not. Generally a list of items in dispute.
Your ex no doubt will have a list and you will too, someone will correct me if i'm wrong but these should be laid out in a Scott Schedule (there are previous posts on the forum with more detail)
you will get chance to challenge each one and either admit what the dispute is or deny it and offer proof or explanation as to what the truth is.

https://dad.info/forum/legal-eagle/49116-scott-schedule-finding-of-fact?limitstart=0
https://dad.info/forum/legal-eagle/49116-scott-schedule-finding-of-fact#87962

For some reason it won't let me search back further than a year, i know there should be more available as i asked these questions back in 2011 and 2012 and have seen several over the years

As far as I'm aware it's only my ex that does the scott schedule as the courts mentioned her allegations of domestic abuse are quite serious. I think this is unfair how the courts have automatically got my ex to do a Scott schedule on me and not vice versa. So She's essentially aloud to question me on her false allegations but I am not aloud to carry out a finding of fact on her.

I was told by my solicitor to send a response to each of the allegations just wasn't sure if this needed to be done on the Scott schedule I get back from mother?

I was also told to write a written statement out of my evidence setting out what I will say in court about the disputed allegations. Do I include screenshots, and stuff in my written statement or is this purely for my benefit only?

I think it's unfair how the mother could potentially get a witness such as a family member or mate to lie. I'm assuming this would still be on her favour? If she's evil as I know her to be she'll probably get someone to make a false witness statement. How would I fight a false witness statement written by a friend or family member?

When it also states the parties must send copies of any documents they wish to use in support of their evidence with the list and their statements. Does this just apply to the supporting evidence regarding her false allegations that she will include in her Scott report, or can I include other documents that show acts of incorporation as such.

There should be a section for you to fill in a response on the Scott Schedule, here’s an example

http://www.nofamilylawyer.co.uk/useful-documents.html

If you’ve been ordered to provide a statement of evidence, you can refer to your evidence in your statement and attach your screenshots etc to the back of your statement. Your solicitor should give you some pointers and a template to follow, the link I’ve provided has templates for statements and also the exhibit sheet(another term for evidence). You can check out that website for further info too.

All the best

Hi Mojo,

That makes a lot more sense now, thank you! However, in regards to the documents on that website I'm not sure who would be the Applicant and respondent in this case regarding the fact finding hearing, as technically it's not for an order is it?! It's just for my ex to try and prove she's telling the truth or not in regards to these false allegations the court feels are of concern to my son Kai.

Kind regards,
Kieran

I will dig out the example I posted a few years ago if I can find it.

Basically she will have an allegation and you then write either agree or denied then put refer to evidence Ev1 Ev2 Ev3 etc...

For example:

Allegation1. He is harassing me via text messages.

Your response: Denied see evidence Ev1 Ev5 Ev6 and my statement at paragraph 5.

You will have to answer questions on the allegations but your solicitor should also be able to question her on the truth in the allegations.

It's not all one sided.

Just be truthful and honest with your responses and speak via your solicitor.

Thanks for the examples and yes if you could dig it out and let me see it so I can get the basic layout that would be amazing thank you very much it's most appreciated, it sucks so much as I've had to pay out £ 13,000 so far and my solicitor wants £7000 just for this finding of fact!

I only have £4,500 in my bank which is [censored] as I've used my maximum amount of loan from my bank.

My honest opinion is that once a solicitor knows its a contact dispute ans sees the [censored] your ex is saying they will rub their hands knowing they'll get a big payday out of it.

my honest opinion is dump the solicitor, ask for a direct access barrister for the day or self rep and get a MacKenzie friend (paralegal) to help you!

i dumped my solicitor after i reached my limit at 6k, it cost me another 2k as i didn't know about MacKenzie friends or direct access barristers at the time so thought i needed the solicitor's help for my finding of fact hearing.
as it happend knowing now what i know i'd have saved myself at least 6k of the over 11k i've shelled out this last 8yrs

The applicant is the party that made the initial application to court and the respondent is the other party named in the application, this applies from the beginning of the case until,the final hearing.

Costs can build up very quickly, but 7K for the FoF seems excessive even by their standards!

Here a link to the Families Need Fathers website where you’ll find details of meetings nationally, where you’ll get face to face advice and support.

www.fnf.org.uk/help-and-support-/local-branch-meetings

All the best

Hey,

Was wondering if you managed to dig out that example report? Would be good to get started on the report and my evidence now, I know she hasn't given in the evidence yet or her Scott table however I'd like to get the upper hand and just justify anything she could possibly raise.

In addition, do you put anything else on the document such as your concerns for the mother? I don't have much evidence on her which is going to make this a lot harder for me to justify. I have phone recordings that I will be going through over the weekend. I am not going to go to the police until the Scott table has been received, so I can ask for reports etc.

The mother seems to be screen shotting a lot of my stuff from snap chat, not sure why as it doesn't prove anything!