[Solved] Court case with step Dad

Hi there

Do you have a solicitor or are you self repping?

I think you just have to make your case, tell the court that you agree that he should have regular contact, but that it would be in your daughters best interests to have it ordered that she lives with you and has contact with him. You could say that with the death of her mother and the upset and disruption that has caused her, it would be better for her to have the security of one home, whilst preserving her relationship with her step dad with regular contact.

If they make an order for alternate weekends and a weekly midweek visit, it's likely they will award him PR. I doubt that it will interfere with your parenting of your child, it just means that you should include him in decisions about education, health and religion.

If he is awarded PR you can apply for child maintenance from him.

Best of luck

Thank you for advice. I have a Soiciter that will hopefully put a good case forward for me. Hopefully if he gets PR he wont cause to many problems

Thank you for advice. I have a Soiciter that will hopefully put a good case forward for me. Hopefully if he gets PR he wont cause to many problems

When are you back in court? Its worth discussing this with your solicitor in some depth, as long as you keep your child's best interests at the heart of your case and base your reasoning around that, hopefully the judge will listen.

Best of luck

Hello Matt1980,

May I ask three questions, first, how old is your daughter?
Second, what contact did you have with your daughter before her Mother sadly passed away?
Third, was everything amicable between you, her late mother and her partner (husband latterly)?

Yes thats fine. I saw my Daughter every other weekend and then a day in alternate week. I got on well with her mother and the now Step Dad. We attended partys together. I took my Daughter and her mother on holiday a few times before we met our new partners and we were. My ex cut my new partners hair everything was nice. My Daughters 11.

Hello Matt1980,

Thank you for replying.

I am pleased you all got on so well, in light of that it puzzles me more why it has been suggested her stepfather should have Parental Responsibility particularly as you are in favour of him having regular contact with your daughter. Assuming she is now going to live with you, have regular contact with her step father, why is it necessary, what reason has been given for him to have P.R.?

If you foresee the granting of P.R. to him quote, "...will cause no end of arguments..." I think the matter should be given serious consideration and the pros and cons discussed thoroughly with your solicitor before agreeing to it.

I wont be agreeing to him having PR. To be honest I think its totally out of order that Cafcass have suggested we share PR. My Solicitor told me if he has overnight contact he gets PR automaticly. Im not sure how true this is as my solicitor has been wrong about nearly everything so far.

Hello Matt1980,

It does not sound right to me that if your Daughter has overnight contact Stepfather gets P.R. automatically. Working on that premise, if a child stays overnight with anyone then that person can have P.R.
I would check this point with another solicitor. Many offer a 30 minute consultation free of charge.

I'm afraid it generally is right, it may be better to let the PR issue go and deal with the shared residence issue... I say that because PR in itself doesn't entitle him to interfere with your day to day parenting, shared residence would give him the right to be equally involved day to day.

My advice is to choose your battles wisely, give and compromise where you can and then the more important issues might be easier to attain. You must show that you are willing to put your child first, by agreeing to regular overnight contact and PR you are acknowledging his place in your child's life, he has been there for 5 years and before all of this happened you all got on.

If he was a good step father it's ok to say so, again it will show the judge that you have no axe to grind and when you argue against shared residence it will be because you believe that not granting that will be in the best interests of your child, she has had great loss and insecurity in her short life and having one home, with continuing contact with those who she has grown to rely upon will help her the most.,

Thank you all for your advice. As Cafcass have recommended after talking to both of us for an hour that he has Joint residence and PR, is it pretty much a done deal that the court will go with there recommendation or do I have a chance of changing there mind. If he gets what they are recommending he will be a nightmare and try to take over. He has already caused alot of problems.