[Solved] shelf life of reports

Hi Samson

I've looked for accepted timescales for your question, but can't find any definition. The court would have to order addendums to any reports and I would imagine that a report that is over a year old might be considered out of date...but this will be up to the judge to decide. You could certainly raise the issue at the next hearing and request addendums to the reports on the table.

If the next hearing is a while away you might be able to raise new directions in the existing case by filing form C2, although I'm not sure if it can be used to raise new reports.

I think it might be a good idea for you to contact Coram for a more definitive answer, I'm sure they would be able to advice you on how to go about this. Here's a link to contact details

http://childlawadvice.org.uk/clas/contact-child-law-advice/

Just a thought, and I have nothing concrete on which to base this, but wouldn't it be a matter of the report being out of date is there has been anything changed significantly since the report was done? So it wouldn't be the age of the report but how accurate you believe it still to be (or not) as to whether you could argue whether a new report needs to be done.

Thank you for replying,
normal I would agree, but as the reports are investigative and later on become
basis for recommendations, things such as police checks, medical conditions
relationship status etc. are the backbones for all court decisions. if these reports
are not accurate or updated decisions are made on old information. Imagine not
gaining access to your child based upon old historical information that someone
decided not to update or remove. further more things like DRBs have a shelf life
and the onus is upon the company to gather up to date information. CAFCAS
already state that once a file has been inactive for over 3 months then new checks
may be necessary, but I cannot find anywhere where the courts are held to account
to gather up to date information.

The courts can probably apply whatever rules the feel are necessary within the law - it's possible they may have the same opinion as mine, in that if nothing has changed, then the reports are still accurate (it's an easy option). The question would then be has anything changed, or might it reasonably expected to have done so.