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Hi, new to the site and some interesting info.
I am currently in a tense situation that is becoming drawn out. Since June 2018 I have had my children 6 nights every other week. I had approached the court for full shared care back in April 2019, first court appearance was end of May. The ex then submitted a C1A 'Allegations of harm and domestic violence', this was pushed to the side by the magistrate as being 'historical' due to us being seperated but still living together at the time, as you can imagine a tense time. Outcome was for a CAFCAS section 7, after all the interviews etc the report was submitted and the conclusion was for me to have shared care awarded. Once our witness statements were submitted following the CAFCAS report the ex has thrown a barrage at CAFCAS in that my behaviour is not historical and she is now applying for a non molestation order. Due to this I now have a solicitor acting for me, and at court they managed to have the magistate arrange for a final hearing in December.
On Friday I received a call on my mobile from someone acting for the court regarding the non molestation order, he emailed the paperwork but didnt serve me the papers, I emailed the court to tell them I wouldn't be able to attend due to work commitments. I spoke to my solicitor on Monday who said as I hadn't been served the papers personally under 'Pursuant to rule 10.3 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010, when an application is made on notice, the necessary documents must be personally served upon the respondent no less than 2 days before the hearing.' All good until the ex's solicitors then emailed him back to say they had been, with the server confirming this. My solicitor called the server who told him I had identified myself and he had served me the papers! Due to these lies I then instructed my solicitor to attend court in my absense. Role on Monday afternoon and the ex's solicitors emailed back to say an error had been made and the server had admitted he hadnt served me the papers and had only emailed them. On this information my solicitor sent the court an email with all this information and requested a new court date...I am hoping some common sense has prevailed as I am aware the ex attended court on Tuesday.
My ex doesnt have too much to go on..her word against mine in most cases. I know she is only doing this to muddy the waters for my child care application, as everything she has stated so far hasn't worked. If I were to just acknowledge the non molestation ie 'agree to undertakings on the basis that I do not accept the allegations that have been made against me' would this impact on my final hearing for the Child Arrangements court case?
This isn't an area I am familiar with, hopefully others will be able to help more, but I'm not sure you should acknowledge the NMO as this might imply that there is a basis for them. I would have thought your solicitor would be advising on this, so I'd talk it through with him.
Hello. You usually got the option to contest the non mol, but this would possibly delay you seeing your children as another trial would be needed. If your ex can agree to an under taking, that is great. If not, the non mol can be placed on you on a no admissions basis and no facts or findings have been made (this is what I had to agree to as she refused an undertaking) to be honest, not contesting it was the worst thing I did. In court, my ex agreed to contact in a contact centre, but when they made contact with her, she changed her mind. I only chose not to contest it as I was told that it could be months for the hearing, therefore i have to wait longer to see my kids.
I think non molestation orders are ridiculous (when innocent) it is over now, and at a recent hearing, the judge "congratulated" me for obeying the order. I had to try and not sound too sarcastic when i replied with " no congratulations needed, I just had to act like my usual self for 6 months, it was quite easy, missing my children wasn't, but everything else was fine"
Thanks for the replies. As it currently stands I am still seeing my children as was agreed at the court, no changes in that respect. I believe due to CAFCAS report stating they would award the full shared care the ex has now decided to go down the non molestation route to her advantage.
i have now received a letter for me to attend the initial hearing next week, should I at this stage put together a statement of my version of events to the judge at this hearing? I'll be contacting my solicitors tomorrow to go through it all with them.
hi,
you should take a position statement with you to each hearing. your solicitor will help prepare this.
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