[Solved] First Phone Hearing

Good evening all,

Solictor checked over all my documents I have to submit by tomorrow and they're all good.

I just wondered if anyone knows how often it actually goes to fact finding? There's a lot of holes in her statement and mine has a lot of counter information and references documents I can provide.

I wondered if anyone has had a similar experience of being accused of allegations and had to counter a Scott Schedule but the courts have rules against a full fact finding?

Its better if you don't raise allegations your ex. if you do then theres a greater chance of a find a fact hearing been ordered. Your solicitor or yourself should be able to have an idea by looking at what the allegations are wether there will or wont be one. I wouldn't concern yourself how she is getting legal aid. you need to focus on getting a very good child arrangement order. definitely don't get involved in mud slinging as you want to come across as the reasonable one

Its better if you don't raise allegations your ex. if you do then theres a greater chance of a find a fact hearing been ordered. Your solicitor or yourself should be able to have an idea by looking at what the allegations are wether there will or wont be one. I wouldn't concern yourself how she is getting legal aid. you need to focus on getting a very good child arrangement order. definitely don't get involved in mud slinging as you want to come across as the reasonable one

Hiya, thanks for reply!

I've not raised any allegations back, I've only counted what she's stated.

My solicitor said he's never had a case where it hasn't gone to fact finding where allegations are involved. He also said though that these allegations are classed as historic so it's hard to say.

It depends on how well her allegations are made out and how important is the fact finding.

How precise are her allegations? "he beat me 4 years ago" versus "I have these pictures of bruises he caused me on day xx/xx/xx because of y and i reported it at the time."

i.e. even if proven true, are the allegations going to mean anything in terms of a court order? if no, then there won't be a fact finding

I would be careful with this solicitor. There is no way every case that has allegations requires a find a fact hearing unless your own solicitor is requesting one. they normally look at the allegations and if they are ridiculous and theres loads of them they can ask for your ex partner to provide evidence .
You certainly don't want your solicitor requesting a find a fact hearing as outcome wont achieve anything apart from a huge bill. what you want is no evidence to back up her allegations and to end up having a contested final hearing to sort out child arrangements. sometimes a find a fact hearing can be ordered simply how you represent yourself in court and how you come across . if you are calm and child focused that can help a long way to avoiding one as supposed to someone raising counter allegations, shouting and letting their emotions get the better of them. unfortunately with phone call hearings they don't really get the opportunity to see you in person . Just be careful solicitor isn't trying to leave you with a huge legal bill

She's accused me of serious sexual assult, not very detailed, more like she's copy and posted a paragraph from 50 shades of gray. No statement to back it up and no listed evidence at all.

Solicitor has only checked my documents, I haven't instructed at this stage. £500 was how much they wanted to charge to attend hearing and I declined at this stage. By the way he was talking, he said he would request a fact finding over a section 7, I don't agree with this as there isn't a need for a fact finding to begin with.

He's priced me up £1500 with a barrister friend of his for a 2 day fact finding if it's required. I

She's supplied no evidence, no detailed statement. My counter statement started how allegations are not true and how our relationship was and how it broke down. Also the month she's alleged, I had already moved out which I've listed I can provide evidence if required as none is requested at this stage.

Right - so some solicitors LOVE to work process and prologue proceedings. hearings after hearings, more and more work. I'm sure you can understand why.

You must make it clear to a solicitor what you want, and say you want minimal proceedings, and access to the children. If after that they go on harping about process and hearings and fact finding and what not, fire them/don't hire them. Some of them just can't help it.

Most of them are on the clock with their firm and are incentivised to allocate their time to clients as much as possible.

yes be careful. unfortunately some solicitors will capitalise on your insecurity. they will promise you the world so you can pay them thousands for endless court proceedings. one was 100% certain that i would get to have my kids every weekend :p

you should aim to avoid fact finding as much as possible. that will keep you stuck in court system for extra 3 months, and keep you away from child for longer.

Hi guys, hope all is good.

Court day tomorrow!

Haven't received bundle from ex solicitor which was meant to be with me by 4pm.

I did receive her statement a week later which is exactly the same as her Scott Schedule.

How does the court look at solicitors who can't follow orders correctly?

Also has wrong court date and wrong court ref number.

Just received the bundle and I need to ask you guys some questions on it but need to copy and paste some information on my pc, I'll do this with in the next hour.

Other question is, I've just had another email from her solicitor asking if she can call me before the hearing to see "if we can come to an arrangement regarding how to move forward in terms of directions?"

Is this normal and what would be the reason for this?

hi,

yep what her solicitor suggested is pretty common. just before my last phone hearing started, legal adviser rang me and said to please try speak to ex barrister and try to reach agreements before hearing starts. i did speak to her barrister, but I was stubborn and didn't agree to anything lol. i just stuck to what I was requesting in my position statement. court does expect us to compromise and be flexible.