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Hi All
new user here as i am now in a similar boat to what most of you may have been through.
I've already had my 1st hearing for a child arrangement order. I paid a solicitor to do the work to get me access to my kid, get my name on the birth certificate and to also amend the childs name.
The case went to a 2nd hearing as we couldnt agree on the name - i managed to 1 hour a week with my child but we are now waiting for CAFCASS to produce a S7 to see if they will give me more access.
My main question for being here is to find out whether the 2nd hearing can be done without a solicitor. Reason i ask is, when i had the solicitor for the first hearing i was advised by the solicitor that i will be charged a representation hearing fee for the 2nd hearing and taking into account what i was paying for the first hearing it worked out affordable.
Following the 1st hearing the solicitor came back with their costs and it was more than double the original fee. I asked for a breakdown and it included:
- a representation fee
- charge for calls/emails to various parties
- costs to produce packs for the court bench
Now i was wondering whether for the 2nd hearing can i represent myself? I'm unsure on what i would need to produce for the 2nd hearing but i would imagine most of the decisions would be made by CAFCASS themselves in regards to child visitation and naming elements.
Can you please advise on what i can do to a)keep costs down and b) allow me to see my child more frequently
Kindest Regards
In short, you don't really need to engage a barrister to solicitor until the final hearing. The aim of the Directions hearing is to determine whether any agreement can be reached between you and the ex based on the recommendations of the S7 report from Cafcass. Cafcass play a very powerful role in the court arena so it is imperative to get them onside.
At this stage, I would let the process run it's course until you are in receipt of the S7 report and have a clear picture as to what they are recommending in terms of how contact should move forward. From there, you could then decide how to approach the Directions Hearing.
Have you tried emailing your ex to suggest that 1 hour per week for a child with one parent is not in a childs best interests? I cannot see how Cafcass would recommend that your contact should remain as it is. Is your ex citing any safeguarding issues? If there are no safeguarding issues then you should be looking at securing an order which would give you a minimum of every other Friday to Monday with an overnight in the week if it is workable (play and supper if not workable), school holidays to be shared equally.
The solicitor wants their fee before they can continue working on the case. Should i hold off until the cafcass report comes through. The next hearing date isn't until 23rd April so still a long way to go.
If i was to go without a solicitor would i need to prepare anything?
In terms of arrangements, our little one is 3 months old. I haven't been allowed to bring him to my family.home yet as his mother wouldn't allow that. So until cafcass report comes through im meeting him at a neutral place.
My ex wouldn't allow me to see him unless i went through court so trying to negotiate with her is off the cards.
Her excuse at the moment is that child is breastfeeding so she is trying to limit the time he is away from her.
hi,
dump the solicitor ASAP and end your terms/contract with them. they will charge you loads for simply sending emails and letters to your ex, which she will ignore anyway.
as others mentioned, pay full attention to the S7 report. Cafcass will interview you as part of process. be very clear on what kind of arrangement you want to see child. and what happens usually, is that whatever cafcass recommends in that report, this is what the courts will follow. when i was in court, baby was similar age. best i could get was court ordering her to give me private room at her place (1st hearing). and i sit with baby for 30 mins every saturday before picking up other 2 kids. mention something like this in your cafcass interview :p
In terms of arrangements, our little one is 3 months old. I haven't been allowed to bring him to my family.home yet as his mother wouldn't allow that. So until cafcass report comes through im meeting him at a neutral place.
quote]Then you will need to propose a schedule where the baby can spend daytime contact with you as the child is very young, this will work best at your ex's home at this stage. Overnights won't kick in until the child is 2 years old unless your ex agrees to it. I would definitely ditch any legal representation at this stage, there is nothing they can do given the child is so young that you would not be able to achieve via self repping.
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