[Solved] First Court Date Tomorrow

Hi there,
im not an expert but heres what i think

first, what you wear doesnt matter!

If you have a solicitor you must clearly state what you want- like contact every Saturday or alternate Sunday or alternate weekend, etc...about your telephonic contact like once or twice a week...about special occasions like birthdays

when you go to the court look for your solicitor and tell him/her about your terms

let me tell you sometime- even if a father is in a prison he can access supervised contact with his kids! it means 'Father has a right to see her daughter'

if cafcass are involved they can't make any immediate assessment based on some emails or stuffs, cafcass worker will have to get into the situation before they can make a suggestion to the court.

Your answer is in your question itself--- the third-last and second last lines are the ones they should consider at least

Good luck mate

Hi

Quick reply as I'm a but pushed for time at the moment. Wear a suit, it can never do any harm, and likewise take everything you have - better to have it with you and not use it than not have it and find you need it. Good luck.

OK, a bit more time now.

I'm not sure if the situation has changed in the last few years, but when I went to court a few years ago to get custody of my children, Cafcass had a short meeting with my daughters (on their own, I wasn't in the meeting) immediately before the court hearing and went into court with a recommendation that I should have contact. The judge said at the time, if it wasn't for the fact that my ex hadn't turned up in person, and had just sent her barrister, he would have ordered there and then that I got residence. I think it was a fairly unusual occurrence though.

As I said above, wear a suit. As info says, what you wear doesn't matter, but in reality, while it shouldn't matter, it's not worth coming into court and finding a judge that (unofficially) holds it against you - basically, you can't go wrong wearing a suit, and it says that you have a respect for the court - I certainly always wore a suit (in fact, my suit has been worn more into court than all other occasions put together)

Hi laker,

Sorry to hear of your situation... unfortunately one that is more common than people would give notice to.

You will have gone to court by now, hopefully suited and booted. Althought these processes are meant to be "informal" they are actually not so at all. The hearings are structured, done in front of people who are smartly dressed and equally... if your ex has a barrister he will be suited and booted.

How old is your Daughter?
What Contact have you requested be made in the C100?
Did you ask that you be allowed Contact with your Daughter over Christmas?

I disagree with Info.. unfortunately there is no automatic right that you have to see your child. The truth of the matter is that Legislation actually can be interpreted that every child born since 1989 is technically an orphan.. and belongs to the state. It is fundamentally the right of the Child to see the parent, not the other way around. You have no automatic right to contact.

CAFCASS will have already given feedback to the Court, and this feedback will be most likely given to a Legal Adviser who will make a decision.

I can't imagine what you must be going through. If you want some tips to try and force the situation and the hand a little quicker... please post back and i can give some good pointers as to what to do.

Hope that today went well and look forward to re-reading this thread later.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yoji I am going to court tomorrow morning, been out and bought a (cheap) suit to wear. My ex and I both have barristers, mine I have to pay for, my ex's is through legal aid.

My daughter is 9 years old (10 in April).

On the C100 form I have requested to see my daughter for 2 days a week with one overnight stay (as was happening before the problems), and half of all holidays.

I havent asked for any contact over this christmas, I actually applied to court at the middle of October didnt realise it was going to take this long to get to court.

I would like this issue to be finished ASAP, would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

I will post back here tomorrow, will let you all know how the hearing went.

Good luck. I hope you get what you deserve

Hi again!
Well had the hearing today and went well (kind of) I can at least take a few positives out of today. Basically I get to take my daughters presents round to her and see her on christmas eve at midday 🙂 which I am stoked about (and a little nervous excited too to be honest) and also I get to go and watch her swimming lessons once a week too with a view to more contact.
CAFCASS are going to carry out a SECTION 7 which is apparently a wishes and feelings assessment but in alot more detail, the only negative is that this takes 12 weeks to complete, so the next hearing is not scheduled until the 16th March, so I have to wait until then until any further progress can be made.
Apparently my daughter gets bored when she is round here that is the main reason she doesnt want to come round and she feels let down (wasnt stated exactly why she felt I had let her down).
So thats about all to report at the moment I am so looking forward to christmas eve where I will get to see my daughter for the first time in 6 months, however briefly, makes all the stress worth it, and will now force my ex to be a bit more positive in encouraging my daughter to see me.
Roll on March 16th 🙂

Thanks for all your input, support and help so far.

Excellent news. It's often a slow process, but worth it 🙂

awww good to hear mate, well done

Hi again,
Just a quick one, Im going to CAFCASS tomorrow for my first interview in reference to a "section 7" report, Im not sure what to expect to be honest has anyone been to one of these before, any idea of the questions Ill be asked and how long it will last?

Thanks in advance

Not been to a cafcass meeting for some years so can't comment on exactly what will happen, but the simple rule is to answer everything asked as honestly as possible and try to make any comments about your ex's behaviour as factual as possible rather than making it personal.

I spoke with Cafcass at the beginning of 2011 they were asked by court to produce a report (not sure what section it was) all I know is that because my ex then made allegations it took me a year to eventually get the full disclosure on the allegations and Cafcass only got limited disclosure.
The report does look very good for my case showing her as a controlling irrational person....the Judge at the last hearing saw that and ripped in to her about it.
We will see this Friday (3rd) if the last 15 months of [censored] and hard work have done enough to get the contact my little boy deserves with me.

If you have had any allegations that have been investigated by the police get a solicitor or judge to order full disclosure to the courts and legal team…then you can make sure Cafcass have the full information.

In my case my ex tried to allege I was harassing her by text messages….i managed to prove to the police I hadn’t (kept detailed records and every text, backed up by my phone company O2’s records) but she told Cafcass that she’d called the police on me numerous occasions and that she’d had them issue me Harassment warnings. Cafcass never had the full disclosure until Dec after they had done their report. But their report was also needing the finding of fact hearing to show there was no safeguarding issues.
My ex is a real screwed up piece of work I can tell you guys! She should come with a government health warning!
The judge saw all the incident logs from the police…noted that in all they said there is nothing harassing in nature or volume considered by a “rational person” – Their words!!! I nearly wet myself when I got my hands on those reports before the hearing in Dec.
Her actions to try and sabotage my case for contact backfired by the reports from the police who she used to harass me!
If I could I’d show you the reports and the allegations……She was like a child stamping her feet because she wasn’t getting her own way! and it all backfired on her………she would’ve been better off having it as “he said – she said” with no one else involved at least she would’ve had the benefit of doubt based on so many ex’s who do harass being guys according to police statistics!

Anyhow all I would say is be honest and tell the truth…..don’t show hatred to your ex….show sympathy for her irrational behaviour or whatever her own reasons are for being like she is.
Don’t turn it in to a muck throwing match like my ex tried to do with me…..i stuck to the truth…and backed up every event with notes, times, dates etc…

Judges are starting to see not all Dads are what they are made out to be…..fingers crossed for you.