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Hello all,
At my last court hearing which was a few months ago. The judge asked for a statement of allegations be prepared by my child's mother. This was supposed to be sent to me by no later than 16th May. I would then need to reply and send to all parties by 30th May (today). As of today i still haven't received the statement of allegations and I did send a letter & email to the court on 22nd May stating this. I've yet to hear from the court regarding my letter. With it been the 30th today and my response not possible i was wondering what else i need to do?
My next court date is next week and I'm concerned that the process will be set back once again until all paperwork is in. Anybody else had experience of this?
*Update*
I've just made telephone contact with the court to get an update and make sure my letter was received. This has been received and they've also received a letter from the respondents solicitor requesting more time due to the police & health reports not arriving as yet.
Surely they shouldn't be relying on these reports to make there statement?
I suppose they want the reports they have requested to confirm the truth of the allegations being made in the Scott Schedule.
It's possible the court will adjourn and give extra time, but it's not a given. If you can find out when her solicitor asked the police /medical for the reports, that might be helpful in arguing why the hearing should go ahead as planned.
In any event you should write to the court, email is quicker, and state why you feel that more time should not be given, the hearing should go ahead as scheduled and the late filing of statements should mean that they cannot now be used as evidence in the proceedings.
Here's a link to an interesting blog article about late filing
http://thecustodyminefield.com/lying-in-court-and-penalties-for-late-filing-of-evidence/
I agree with Mojo, but I would also suggest that even if you do attend, if requested evidence has not been filed, it's likely the court will adjourn the hearing anyway.
You can't respond to something you haven't received, and even if you do receive it at short notice, if you are representing yourself, it's probably better to ask for an adjournment to allow you time to prepare. A solicitor can do this at short notice, but the last thing you want to do is rush a response and not reply comprehensively.
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