[Solved] What Should I expect to get from court

Thats great ill do that also!

How long was your case from start to finish ? I'm currently only at the section 7 stage I'm guessing ill need a fact finding hearing although i doubt she will push for one as it'll cost her a fortune and she has no evidence of anything anyway?

Hopefully it'll be sorted in the next few months....

Mine went on for just under two years - you will probably have a number of "final hearings" which end up not being the final hearing.

I had a Section 7, Fact Find, Supplementary Section 7 then a final hearing (finally). In between all of those about 8-10 other hearings.

Started in a contact centre, progressed to unsupervised then overnights then 50-50 shared care (ish).

It all ended in a November, by the February she was applying back to court for a variation and to stop me posting on certain fathers forums aswell as other ridiculous demands. There was a Section 37 at that point. Then a final hearing in these fresh proceedings - nothing changed and I managed to get a S91(14) barring order in place to prevent more of her games.

There will be more.....it never ends unfortunately so don't kid yourself.

My god that must have cost you a fortune unless you represented courself? I'm starting to consider representing myself after reading what a lot of people put on here and from my experience of my first hearing which was basically what cafcass says goes...

Self representing is the only way to go. I had a solicitor at the first hearing who charged me £500 although I refused to pay and he wrote off £300.

They are robbing gits and most have up to 80 cases on the go at once. I wouldn't be so bold as to say they rig things to maximise fee's but they do profit from your misery.

A litigant in person with a good McKenzie Friend can do everything and more any solicitor can.

Save your money for the final hearing - you could then just employ a barrister for that day if you are worried (3K ish).

Seriously, I'm no "fathers rights" campaigner but I understand this system and how to navigate it, I learned everything by representing myself.

wow i was told 2 years , but then again my awfull ex , has made it very very hard,, pleased for you tho,

Cafcass have messed up and can't get my section 7 report done for my hearing in 3 weeks time and they are asking for an extension which I'm guessing will be another 3 months. Should my hearing still go ahead I'm going to represent myself to see how it goes as i won't really be missing much but i will try and fight for some sort of contact as it'll be 3 months since i saw my daughter as on the next hearing.

I guess my experience was slightly different. My case lasted 4 months over 3 hearings. I was represented all the way. I don't want to imagine what it would have cost, had the case dragged on to Section 7 and/or Fact Finding, but I was fortunate it was just Non-Molestation FHDRA, CAO FHDRA and CAO Final Hearing. In my case, Cafcass recommended no section 7 report and no further involvement from their part after the first interview. I think it helped that I had not given an undertaking at the non mol hearing and came out clean.

The fact that the Ex was paying for representation I think helped too. Worth noting that if someone gives an undertaking, the other party is then eligible for legal aid, which gives them an incentive to keep the case going as long as possible.

While being represented was really expensive, in my case it was worth it for the non-mol FHDRA. I found being represented by a barrister in court useful, and being represented by a solicitor outside court a waste of money, although I do think my solicitor is very good and child centric, those weeks of letters flying back and forth were a waste of money. I would also say that if you ever do hire a barrister, hire an experienced/expensive one (mine agreed a flat fee of 3.5K+VAT for the final hearing), otherwise you're just paying for their education.