[Solved] First Hearing Questions

BM,

I'm glad for you that the c100 has finally turned up with a hearing date. Now you can focus on getting things sorted.

The positive for you is that your wife does not want to stop you seeing your son. So your battle is easier than for some.

With that said, your wife is offering weekly contact, which to be honest seems a little ambiguous by its wording. I don't think anyone can tell you what she means. Perhaps is supervised like it is now at the weekends, or perhaps unsupervised at the weekends. It isnt clear from the form. But you will be able to discuss this at court and find out in detail what her terms are.

So on that basis, knowing what contact you want to take place, write a good position statement that presents your case to the judge, and sets out your plans for contact as you would like it be taking place. Obviously as stated, be prepared to start somewhere in between where you are now and where you want to be...as your wife may not agree to overnight contact. I don't know......but you will find out her position in court.

My thoughts really are that you have been having supervised contact and no issues have been raised by your wife in regards to your sons safety or wellbeing during contact times. The court should acknowledge this really and look to move contact forward to an unsupervised basis. It could be your wife agrees to let you have your so for the whole of saturday to start with but without the overnight stay. You may have to build up to that.

For you, you said things to her that caused her to fear what actions you may take. You told us you said to her you would take your son, or not her take him from you. Part of this process therefore for you is goingto have swallow some pride in the short term, and gain her trust back in regards to your son. If you show her and the court that your son is in safe hands, then things will move on.

It worked for me, my first overnight contact is this weekend. A long time coming, but it is finally here. It worked for Slim. I'm sure you have read of his success story. A lot of this is down to hard work and goodwill. So dont feel bad if you dont get everything you want in may, because it will come over time if you follow our advice here.

And if you would rather not pay a solicitor a few hundred quid to do your position statement for you, I will do it for free. Just let me know.

Simon.

Hi Simon,

I currently have unsupervised contact at the contact centre. I'm left alone with my son.

I guess my concern now is that my wife will bring up the DV allegations between me and her and try to buy herself time by requesting that I go on the Domestic Violence program. Which will take another 9 months!!!

In fact, Im certain she will bring it up the minute there is even a hint that the courts will grant me something even close to what I want. I just need to think of a way of countering it.

- the issue is between me and her. if we dont live together, son is no longer subjected to arguments. I can pick him up and drop him off without having to see or speak to her.

- or I go down the finding of fact route. If this was criminal proceeding I would be confident but family its down to the assumptions of one person. I'll be screwed

My case sounds straight forward on paper but ex will do whatever she can to drag it out so son stays with her longer and grows less close to me. I suspect she has another fellah as well

can someone send me a link to an example position statement?

When do I give it to the courts? before the directions hearing or on the day itself. How do I present it?

Here is a link http://www.thecustodyminefield.com/flapp/positionstatements.html

In my case they were exchanged on the day at court. You can send them earlier of course that gives more time for faults to be found.

Personally I think the last minute nature of courts about something as important as children's lives is disgusting.

MH

Thanks

Do you mean exchange with my ex partner? Don't you send a copy to the courts before hand and CAFCAAS

Also, is it worth paying £5 to download the template position statement

You can find examples on the internet - I used one of those.

You need to bring 4+ copies with you and hand one to court. Give one to your ex or their solicitor and one to cafcass if they are there. Its always good to have more copies.
MH

I've received a form that I need to fill out and return to the applicant (my wife) and the court.

- it's asking me to send it together with the "statement of means and supplement information form" to the courts. I can't find the latter two. Any idea what they are referring to? I don't have any C1A form and what is the statement of means?

- in the form that I need to fill it ask several questions. Most straight forward but these ones I'm not sure:

"Do you oppose the application?"

- do they mean my wife's chikd arrangment application or what she is offering in terms of contact?

Question 8: "do you intend to apply to the court for an order?"

I guess that a yes, that I seek an order for contact? Or am I wrong

Also do I send my position statement along with this stuff?

BM

Statement of means relates to your incomings and outgoings in a monetary sense. Not too sure why that is relevant within the context of a child arrangements proceedings. The C1a form relates to allegations of domestic violence. You can download it here:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/forms/fjr/C1A_web_0414.pdf

I don't think you would oppose her application, unless you specifically have a problem with her having residency (which is what she wants). I think that you allow the application and of course state what you want to agree on with her within the context of the application i.e contact e.t.c

I would answer yes to applying for an order, as you would any agreed contact to be in the form of a court order so it is legally binding.

Position statement I would not submit now. You don't want your ex and her team picking holes in it and coming up with counter arguments for a month or so. Write your statement and present it to the court usher on the morning of the hearing.

As for the templates you requested. Templates are fine, but they won't really help you know what to write or how to write it. They are fine for giving you a general idea of what could go in it, but to be honest are not very good. Get some real advice or help rather than just writing off the top of your head on to a blank template. The statement needs to be factual, concise, sum up your case, by child focused and neutral. Sometimes its good to get someone objective and detached from the case to help you or read it over. As I said, my offer still stands to assist you if you require it.

Simon.

I didn't receive a C1A form with the documents.

However my wife did make allegations of DV against her to get the non-molestaion order. Should I download the C1A?

I had a quick look at the C1A form and it is designed to allow you as the respondent to make any comments in regards to your wife's allegations.

Did she make any specific allegations of DV on the C100? If she did, then you can fill out the C1A with your comments, or put no comment if you would rather wait until court. Or if she made no specific mention of allegations in the C100, then you have nothing to make comment comment, and the C1A is irrelevant.

Hope that helps.

Yes she mentions DV but doesn't go into specifics

I thought she had to fill one in and then include it in the application and then she responds