Refused Legal Aid!

[Mumofmarco]

I am a student studying Architecture BA Hons Im a single mum. My Ex has taken me to court because he was not happy with the amount of visitation I was offering. I have been refused legal aid because my Childcare Grant has been seen as disposable income! I am not allowed to spend the money I am given on any thing else other than childcare. I am left with £5000 for the year for me and my son! I rang up and was told this was completely correct! PLEASE HELP!
Gemma x

The relationship of a child with it's parent, even a less than satisfactory parent is important.

Leaking nappies happen and don't signify a situation where social services remove children so why should it mean this child doesn't see it's father?

Driving a car in snow is risky but you were the one who also did that .....and crashed.......not him

I'm probably going to be flamed but I suspect the least harmful thing you could do is to examine a way to not argue over the contact this father has with this child rather than fight at all cost.

My ex does not pay maintenance. That is a separate issue to my children seeing him.

He was physically abusive.......but never to the children.

I feel threatened and hurt that they still wish to see the man who harmed me BUT he is their father and the relationship they have with him is theirs not mine to control.

Your son is 2 so I do appreciate your concern, but the more you fight the more he will fight back. I would choose your battle wisely. If your main argument is over the nature of your relationship and break up with this man ...then let him see his son.

He will probably get bored quickly and it will tail off if he is only doing it to score points if you take that element away. If he genuinely wants a relationship with his son please let him have it for Marco's sake

I think this is a case of computer says no.

Common sense dictates your childcare grant cannot be used for anything other than childcare but the LA rules are also clear.

Having been through family court myself, I'd say don't be too frightened about self representing. There is a wealth of information out there and people who can help. You can soon learn the basics and take a Mckenzie friend along to assist you. A judge is also more lenient (as much as they can be) to someone self representing and you won't be the first or last he/she will have seen.

That said, a big tip is not to get tied up in the details. So examples like "He returned DS with a leaking nappy" may be unconscionable to you and even me. In fact, its happened many a time with my ex & our kids. But judges won't really pay attention to the minor things like that. All parents make mistakes. They will want solid reasons why he cannot/should not get access.

I would suggest your approach should be that you are happy for Marco to spend time with his father. That you understand its important but that this needs to be built up over time at a pace which will not be detrimental to Marco's welfare. As such you propose starting at a contact centre with supervised access and contact increasing as time/circumstances dictate.

That sounds way better to a judge than he is not doing this or that.

I would change your solicitors.

I think the issue is that your application can be earmarked as a complex "interest of justice" application if your childcare costs are over £500/month, with a consequent formfilling-fest.

Official doc

In general childcare can be taken into account:

13.9.5 Childcare costs
13.9.5a Childminders or nurseries
You can make an allowance for childminding expenses (paid to a
registered childcare provider) that the applicant has paid during the
period of calculation. Unless there are exceptional circumstances
(e.g. disability of the child) you should only make such a deduction
for a dependent child aged 15 or under.

i get 16000 11000 is nursery fees given to me by childcare grant 5000 is student loan to live off for the year!!

to VictoriasLittleKnownSecret I cant belive you had an abusive partner and trust him with your kids I hope they are old enough to tell you if any thing happens. I see it as my job to protect him. I have not gone into the ins and outs they where just stuff that happened last week! He never took any interest in Marco he never wanted to spend time with him. When we where still together Marco was very young. I was very sick and asked him to watch marco through the night. Marco had a problem where he would be sick alot and could choke so he needed keeping an eye out for. When i woke up i went to check marco and he was covered in dry sick which had been there all night! He said he was tired! my room was close to marcos and i used to listen out for him by leaving both doors open and the monitor made a noise. Every night with out fail when he came to bed he would shut both doors so not to disturb him. Thankfully nothing happened to marco but it could have. I also found him on several occasions trying to take him in a car seat that was not fastned to the car! There is a list as long as my arm if he really cared for marco he would not havve done these things!

A loan doesn't sound like disposable income, it's a loan.

Change your solicitors, they either don't like the sound of your case or don't want all the special-case legal aid form-filling or both.

The OP has said that she has been refused Legal Aid. To me that suggests that an application has already been made for LA to the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and rejected by them. If this is the case, then changing solicitors will achieve nothing. Only the LSC has authority to refuse to provide funding. Solicitors firms cannot refuse funding as the decision comes from the LSC. Solicitors cannot force the LSC to provide it or tell them to reject it when a client is indeed eligible for it.

If an application has been rejected and she goes to another firm, they will tell her funding has already been refused and they will not be able to act either act.

The impression I got was that for simple cases much of the assessment of LA was done by practitioners, especially passporting, not the LSC.

Isn't it only in complex/borderline cases where the NCT are involved in any active assessment by LSC ?

If he doesn't care about your son why is he taking you to court in order to get more access to him.

no they do not take your childcare into consideration as i am currently going through the same situation, my daughters dad has risk to child status and is not allowed anywhere near children yet he still gets legal aid to take me to court but lsc have told me i am not entitled to legal aid as my childcare is classed as disposable income. there is no justice in this world seem if you stay on benifit you are entitled to everything however become a student and try to better yourself and you get nothing. It is all wrong

You could look into taking a Mackenzie Friend with you to the hearings if you self-represent (google is your friend)

Lots of law students do pro bono work for the valuable experience it gives them.

The bar pro bono unit may be able to help you if you can get a professional person to refer you

Zombie thread

Fuck I hate it when people do that! That's another ten minutes of my life I won't see again just because some half head bumped an ancient thread!

Zombie Alert

if he doesn't care about your son why is he making this fuss?