[Solved] First hearing - biased from the outset

Hi again

Firstly, I've edited your post to remove the names from it. We are a public forum and it's best not to include information that could identify your son's case as confidentiality is of the utmost importance in court matters.

Was it just a Legal Advisor at the hearing or magistrates as well? To be fair, making a complaint probably would not achieve anything at this stage. I feel for you though, I know a lot of parents who have experienced bias in hearings with magistrates and LA's.

It's good that a Section 7 has been ordered, have the court also ordered full statements from both parties to be filed before or after the Section 7? Was a finding of fact hearing mentioned?

In reply to your questions from what was in hindsight a rather rambling post ( think I was maybe in shock following the hearing)

No magistrate , just the Legal Adviser and Caffcass - the Caffcass Officer actuallly suggested to the LA that statements of evidence be collected but this process was rejected by the LA - hence my outrage as it seems that false statements accepted with no evidence and no chance to challenge !

Will the Section 7 allow chance to respond etc do you think ?

I was actually thinking of ringing CAFFCASS and. Asking them - but not sure if it was wise to voice my concerns about the proceedings to them although I have no criticism of CAFFCASS & am thankful for their input

We've had a few members have issues with LA's of this nature. Due to the allegations it seems fairly reasonable that a District Judge should be dealing with these proceedings.

Perhaps CAFCASS will make recommendations for statements / evidence in their Section 7 report. Glad to hear you had a good experience with them.

When your son has his face to face meeting for the S7, it might be worth him taking along any 'evidence' he has to negate these allegations. I don't think it's worth phoning CAFCASS at this stage, they will be in touch to carry out the report soon enough and your son can raise these concerns with them at the relevant time.

Please can you pm me the name of the court the hearing took place at? I would be interested to know if it is the same as some of our other members have attended.

I know it's a horrible time for you all, try and detach from it as much as you can while the S7 is being carried out and we will all try to support you as much as we can.

Hopefully once the report is complete you will be able to move forward with this process.

Your son is lucky to have you supporting him.

try not to worry it does seem like an uphill battle at first but don't lose heart it's very rare that a direction hearing goes well and in anyway favours the dad.

I had exactly the same the ex saying I was a drug addict, DV abuser, Child abuser and generally the worlds most evil kitten killer with not one shred of proof.

the only thing I can see of concern is the cannabis use, it doesn't matter if he occasionally smokes a spliff the courts are in the dark ages and you might as well be addicted to heroin in their eyes so he may be wise to do what I did and give it up completely as they may ask for drug test in the S7.

I knew they would ask for a drug test so I gave up before the courts had even started so I done a test off my own bat which came back negative so that blew them out the water straight away.

My first 2 hearings were an absolute nightmare absolutely everyone was against me including cafcass but once we got into the proceedings all the mothers lies were proven wrong as the case wen't on it was only 3/4 of the way through when things began to turn in my favour, it's a case of tick all the boxes jump through all the hoops and he will be part of his childs life it doesn't seem like it at first but the courts do stick to the law and the law states that every child has the right to BOTH parents in their lives and they do stick to that.

I never saw my 4 month old baby for 10 months whilst I fought through the courts it was absolutely [censored] on earth you do feel as if everyone is against you but you must stand and fight no matter what.

As long as theres no proof of any harm to the child he should be ok and eventually he will actually be allowed to be a dad.

My ex was the [censored] from [censored] for 2 years solid even before the birth she point blank refused any contact with my girl I wasn't allowed at the scans she barred me from the birth I found out 3 days later through facebook it was horrific and a year on and I couldn't possibly have my girl any more than I do we have pretty much a 50/50 split although some weeks I have my girl more than the ex does.

Good luck and keep fighting 🙂

Slim 🙂

Hi, Sorry your Son is going through this.

The difficulty you will have is that any complaint will not be actioned and there will be found no wrongdoing. Legal Advisers are not allowed to act as Judges, in fact a Legal Adviser is exactly that. There is a £60,000+ a year salary separating the two. In my experience, a Legal Advisers knowledge is generally poor when compared to a Judge.

Your Son might state a variety of things to the S7. He will of course need to respond to any allegations that have been made. I would say provided he knows unequivocally he is not and has not done the things alleged, he could state that he believes these allegations have only been made to further protract the proceedings.

The Court Room is a strange place. Just get the S7 out of the way and then focus on the next hearing where in all likelihood they will set a final hearing.

I assume that what you mean by that Yoji is that they will 'close ranks' and ignore me or at best find no evidence of wrongdoing ? It clearly states in the ( Our County) Courts Framework that it is the role of the Judge or Legal Advisor to ensure both applicants are given an equal footing ( or something like that) which we were not , and surely for her to state ( verbatim) I've been there myself I understand ....' in this situation shows clear bias and is unprofessional behaviour?

Obviously want to use the S7 to counter the false allegations , but her claiming emotional abuse is harder to fight than actual violence , she says he did ,and is giving Oscar winning performance of a distraught woman , he says he didnt ( and as they spent 90% of their free time unde my roof I know its false ) - they seem favoured to believe her .

I am really not happy for this Legal Advisor to be in charge at the next and subsequent hearings ( and she has said she will be). IMO she has to much influence on potential outcomes ( albeit 3 Magistrates will also be at the next hearing) to let it go.

My main objective is to get her removed from the case - if I can achieve this by other means than making a complaint all well and good but I can't see another way of achieving this?

If anyone can suggest an alternative method I would be grateful.

I wouldn't kick up a fuss, I'm sure if you make a complaint the courts will make things 10x more difficult for your son, everyone in the court system are a law in themselves you honestly can't win.

Just concentrate on his case and the S7 and don't make things any worse, you're lucky you have CAFCASS on you're side which is a blessing and they compile the reports, 9 times out of 10 the Judges usually go with their recommendations so make sure his S7 interview goes spot on and firmly deny any allegations in it although you don't really get a chance to argue your case with them.

CAFCASS, Solicitors, mediators all should be banned from the Family courts absolute scum of the earth the lot of them I found the only decent people were the actual Judges and I still have the upper most respect for everyone of them in my case I found they were more interested in the well being of the child than any of the other scum [censored] were.

It really is a case of head down tick all the boxes jump through all the hoops don't kick up a fuss and don't make things worse.

Slim 🙂

I would say to follow Slims advice somewhat in regards to the matter being made more difficult because you are making a complaint.

You are, however entitled to request that the Legal Adviser not be appointed to your case and that a new LA be appointed under the view that you believed her comments as not being construed as being unbiased or impartial and state the circumstance. This may result in the case being delayed a little to re-set a new date before a new adviser.

I have issue with one particular LA at my local court who lacks totally any and all integrity. I stated that she must not be appointed to my case. For the first few, she was not, however at the final hearing there she was. She questioned if I wanted to proceed. Of course at the final hearing I had to weigh up my options. In hindsight, I would have requested an immediate adjournment, but you learn from your mistakes I suppose.

Contrary to what was said, by all means complain to the Courts manager if you feel strongly about it, highlighting the clear bias but that would not stop things from going on - it's your right. The problem you might face is the law suggests on judicial continuity whenever possible. As that was just the first hearing, chances of it being moved to another court room is minute if you cannot show an err of judgement. The recorder's comment that "she's been through it" was toxic and can be a breach of court room neutrality. Yogi is definitely right on that one.

Dramatic ladies tend to win hearts over very quickly. This is based on the fact that it has taken guts for the mother to testify plus the requested screen used on the day.

A good solicitor or barrister can rewrite recordings in the next hearing. Although the CAFCASS officer suggested taking statements for future hearings, the verbal statements provided by both of you under oath is as good enough unless it was requested by the Judge earlier. CAFCASS officers are only advisors,

Having said the above, I will focus on your son's evidences, statements and demeanour in a court room and find a good solicitor if you can afford one.

All the best.

...you mention that there will be three magistrates at the next hearing, if that's the case then they will direct the management of the case and are likely to ask for statements from both parties. I would be surprised if the LA will be as prominent as the case gets going.

The others have given you good advice, stepping back from it emotionally is a must if you and your son are to cope with the roller coaster ride that is family law proceedings. Although the LA seemed to attack your son personally don't let anger in, you will deal with the proceedings much more effectively if you remain calm and measured. Concentrate on your case and presenting it to the best of your ability.

I've been looking for information about complaining about LAs and I came across this....

https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-legal-adviser

However, as has been said don't get bogged down with this, your case will develop and I'm sure your son will get the chance to put his case forward.

Best of luck

Many thanks to all who have responded for your advice  - You are right that I need to 'step back' from it and not get so emotionally involved ( easier said than done but very necessary). 

I am confused by half oysters comments on sworn statements as neither party were asked to provide a sworn statement orally or in writing , and the first hearing was almost completely focused upon the Mothers verbal ( but unsworn) allegations of emotional abuse ; with very little opportunity given to my Son to respond to these quite serious allegations. 

Whilst the CAFFCASS officer suggested to the Legal Adviser that both parties produce written statements for the next hearing ( which I assume would have provided an opportunity to refute the allegations ) this was rejected by the Legal Adviser. 

Will the Section 7 report provide a fair opportunity for my Son to refute these allegations?  Or is it just a case of hoping that the next hearing in 3 months will provide the opportunity?

In the meantime I have successfully contacted the Coram Legal Centre and spoken to their legal team. They really did seem quite shocked by the conduct of the Legal Adviser  and believed she acted in an impartial manner . The matter has been escalated to one of their Senior Solicitors who is looking into it and will call me again tomorrow.