[Solved] First Phone Hearing

Thanks Bill, I have sent an email back to arrange a time before hearing tomorrow. I'm unsure what it will achieve as shes made allegations against me and surely i need to clear myself before anything can move forward?

The other thing I wanted help with was:

1) "The Respondent seeks the opportunity to respond to the Applicant’s statement filed and served on 1st July 2020." - Shes stated she wants to counter my counter? Can i express to the court that this is nothing but a delay? How can she counter hard evidence? Will courts even consider it?

2) "The Respondent requests that the S7 Report is completed prior to a Fact Find Hearing being listed." - My understanding of doing this is that Cafcass then do the report based on the allegations, Can i again express that if the court deems a fact finding is required, I would like to request that a fact finding is done before a section 7 due to wanting to be clear of all false allegations etc.

with points 1 and 2. it seems you will have little or no control over things. court will make decisions on s7 report and fact finding. if you have a barrister/solicitor then you should speak to him/her so that they can raise these issues with the court. things would go much easier for you if a fact finding hearing does not take place.

I'm representing myself and wondered if I can raise my concerns? The bundle has a lot of missing information which I would like to be able to point out,

How often does the courts listen to what position statement like this actually want?

also what is the solicitor likely to want to agree directions on when the respondent has stated that she doesn't want me to have contact and will state this even after a section 7 apparently..

yep you can voice your concerns to court. i self-repped. at first hearing i noticed they mainly interested in talking to ex barrister and asking her what they should do going forward. my final hearing was lot better. male judge. gave me lot of chances to speak. went through my requests in position statement one by one and more or less gave me everything i asked for.

also what is the solicitor likely to want to agree directions on when the respondent has stated that she doesn't want me to have contact and will state this even after a section 7 apparently..

in your position statement, make sure you request child contact in the interim.as its likely there will be future hearings. ask for interim contact and see how things pan out. if S7 report recommends you to have contact with child, court will go with that. your ex can moan and go against it. she would be wasting her time.

Any idea what her solicitor is likely to say on the phone if she's already refusing contact on her statement?

no idea.could be anything. might suggest something dumb like you see child for 1 hour a week. don't let them make you feel pressured. you don't have to agree to anything solicitor proposes.

I'll update you tomorrow evening!

Thanks Bill

its clear from points 1 and 2 your ex is trying to delay proceedings and drag this out for as long as she can.
I would be saying you do not agree to this, be careful when you speak to solicitor before hearing, they can play games and cause problems. some are child focused and some are terrible attempting to get you to say the wrong things and use it against you

Had phone call with ex solicitor. She basically was writing up draft orders and wanted to confirm a few dates etc. She tried to get me to agree to a fact finding after a section 7 which i refused. She said that if the courts don't request it that they might push for it at a later day. I also requested the my ex does a drug test due to the recent information of drug abuse.

it's good you didn't agree to fact finding. if court doesn't see the point in doing it, then it won't happen. they can be sensible as in avoiding to drag out proceedings. in my case, they did not let it to go to 3rd/final hearing as it will just affect the kids even more.