Lies in family court

[angryangryyoungwoman]

My ex has written various malicious, completely untrue things on the court application form for child contact. These will all be proven to be untrue once we are at court but in the meantime, the stress of these accusations will be having their effects on me and my family. I just wanted to know, and hopefully be reassured by other peoples experiences if you don't mind, on how the court will treat someone who has made deliberately false accusations. Will it have an impact on child contact? My ex has shown himself to be a liar on many occasions in the past which will be evidenced as well but I just can't believe that someone willing to make up such awful things would get away with it once in court. As I said, he will be proven to be a liar but is there any punishment at all given by the court? Anyone have any experience?
For background, he is verbally and mentally abusive, he has damaged property and contact has been stopped because of this, harassment and emotional abuse of dd.
The allegations he is making are of non existent physical abuse of him by myself and family, my substance abuse, and he is accusing a member of my family of having child pornography.
I am speaking to women's aid and they said malicious accusations are common in family court from men who have been abusive.
It will obviously reflect badly on him in court but I just wanted to see if anyone has experienced similar and what the outcome was.
Cafcass are going to do a section 7 report, which I welcome, as my dd is safe, well and happy and the cafcass officer does seem balanced and kind. I'm just really upset today that this nasty man is trying to do anything he can to cause trouble. Will he get away with it?

[angryangryyoungwoman]

Hopeful bump

[jayho]

My ex did the same including claiming I had an STD so we couldn't have sex. No idea where the children came from then the judge and carcass saw straight through him.

[angryangryyoungwoman]

Thanks, jayho, sorry to hear it happened to you. What happened exactly if you don't mind telling me?

[angryangryyoungwoman]

I really want to know what the consequences might be for him

[jayho]

There aren't any consequences as such other than they don't get their own way and are belittled by a figure of authority.

'i find your representation of the facts to be untrue' was my favourite. A good judge will shut him and his counsel down. A good counsel will not let him take the statements into court.

[angryangryyoungwoman]

He is self representing unfortunately.

[angryangryyoungwoman]

I find it difficult to understand how someone with the capacity to lie in such an extreme way can be deemed fit to spend time with children.

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

My ex did the same, judge said she didn't care as even if what he said was true (which it wasn't)it in no way affected my ability to parent. However she also treated my very real concerns about ex in much the same manner.

Your ex will be made to file a statement to the court, then you get the chance to reply. On ones where he'd twisted things I explained myself and on the made up ones I simply wrote "complete fantasy" or "never happened".

Him representing himself is probably a good thing if he's full of shit as he'll just make a fool of himself in court (as my ex continued to do).

[angryangryyoungwoman]

Theweebabyseamus1, thanks for replying. I'm sorry to hear you went through similar things. I know he'll make a fool of himself but not before he has caused a lot of pain to others. Did it have any bearing on the amount of contact he was awarded?

[Lelloteddy]

Don't get too caught up in what his 'punishment' might be for lying. It's not a criminal court and unless he's under oath for something like a Re L hearing ( fact finding for domestic violence) it won't be considered a huge issue. If you get the right judge he or she will shoot him down verbally but there are plenty of misogynistic judges out there so forget about what he's saying, focus on your facts and keep the children's needs central.

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

Unfortunately not. Even him deliberately going out of his way to defy me hasn't ( like this week I asked him to make sure DSs nappy was changed regularly as he came back with a rash last week so this week he didn't change him at all! I got a piss covered 18mo handed back to me, covered with a nappy rash but SS don't see it as enough of a concern for me to cease contact ).

I think if you insist that you are concerned that the lies are part of a mental health or can prove that he is incapable of providing adequate care ( although I'm not sure how bad things would need to be as Cafcass noted an open tub of washing powder and boiling hot kettle on the floor when they did a home visit and still recommended unsupervised contact.)

[summerainbow]

Document everything and put your statement .if your dr note are not too bad get them put into statement .,same with kids . Go the Dr 1st with every worry .

[angryangryyoungwoman]

It's not his punishment I am focused on, although that would be a bonus. I am focused on not feeling that my child would be safe with someone capable of lying to that extent

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

Sorry, hit post too soon. If you can prove all that then it may affect contact but courts tend to always allow contact unless there has been serious abuse of the children.

[angryangryyoungwoman]

Theweebaby, that is shocking. Your poor baby.

[angryangryyoungwoman]

Thank-you summerrainbow. I will do that

[angryangryyoungwoman]

Theweebaby, my contact at the domestic violence service I am dealing with who know the whole case have said it sounds as though he is mentally ill.

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

Bring it up in court. Say you want your DC to have a relationship with him but you need to know that they are safe and cared for. The court can request his medical records and investigate, and you can request visits in a contact centre while this is being done.

[PolaroidsFromTheBeyond]

In my experience, courts won't decide a father is unfit to have contact unless there are pretty serious concerns that DCs would be abused or neglected in his care.

Lying and generally being a twat are not things that the court would hold against him in terms of awarding contact. The judge usually takes the view that a child has a right to a relationship with both parents unless there are serious and ongoing safeguarding concerns.

[angryangryyoungwoman]

I don't think his medical records would show anything as he has not been diagnosed as far as I know.
I am talking with my solicitor about requesting a psychiatric assessment on him but apparently he has to agree, which seems unlikely

[nagsandovalballs]

To be honest. Self representation and mad claims are easier for you to attack than If he had lawyered up and was saying something harsh but reasonable sounding, I would be more worried.

[bibliomania]

Totally agree with nags - you don't want him to be subtle and reasonable-sounding about his allegations. You want to stand there as a model of reasonableness and honesty, while he prats around saying ridiculous things. A part of me really enjoyed our hearing - the incredulous expression on the judge's face was quite funny.

Exactly as Poloroids says, him saying outrageous things in court won't lead to contact being stopped. The judge will look at whether he manages to provide adequate care while the dc with him, with the bar being set extremely low (nappy rash won't raise an eyebrow).

[angryangryyoungwoman]

Thanks everyone for replying. I appreciate that he is going to look a fool but I'm too tired to muster any enjoyment from it.
I thought that lying even when there is no reason for it may impact on child contact as he can't be trusted to report any injuries and how they happened etc.

[HazelBite]

Any assertions/accusations/statements he makes in Court have to be supported by evidence, if he has noting concrete in support they will be ignored by the Judge.
Idiots who self represent do not appreciate this!

[bibliomania]

No, I'm afraid the mere fact of lying in court won't lead to a reduction in child contact.