Ex missed family court statement deadline, what should I do now?

[Esmeraldathe3rd]

In family court against ex. As per social services recommendations due to safeguarding concerns. Serious concerns and "accusations". Deadline for the final statement and evidence was 4 pm today. To each other and the court. I sent mine. I have not received his.

This allows him time to read my statement and change his own to best counter it doesn't it?

What do I do? I'm self representing. So it's just me, no solicitors, what do I say to the court and when? And how? Email them? Call them?

There's plenty of time till the hearing so it won't affect when the hearing is and you could argue I have 3 weeks to prepare so one day (potentially) makes no difference. But it means the statements that the judge is primarily going off aren't fairly presented because he's seen mine before submitting his own

When the deadline was issued, was there any detail given about potential sanctions for missing it? I'm not a lawyer but as I understand it you have to meet the deadline or there can be consequences - the judge may not allow your ex's evidence to be submitted for example.

I didn’t release mine to the court until he did. He sent it at 3.55 pm I sent it at 3.56 pm.

follow up tomorrow with a message to the court to say he had missed the deadline and you haven’t received it.

But the court will (in my opinion let him file his late and not cause a stir)

I didn't have a choice, I sent it about 3, but then I do school run so I'd have been late otherwise. I had some bigger evidence files that I needed to make sure sent properly

There was no mention of any sanctions. He hasn't cooperated well with the process, so I'm hoping they don't just shrug their shoulders at it

Do you know if he has failed to provide it, or if the solicitor has? Solicitors don't always meet the deadlines they should for filling. And there can be delays in the filed docs being shared with other parties too.

If he does submit his late it and the Court accepts it I would make the point that he has had the opportunity to see yours and amend his accordingly

His solicitor is supposed to send it to me and the court and 4 pm today. He did at the last hearing. This is our final hearing where the judge makes an actual decision so it will make a big impact if he's able to dissect my statement in his own. I don't believe he writes his own statement, it was very much written by his solicitor last time.

My ex was self representing, missed the deadline. Mine was sent at 3.55pm. He then sent his 2 days late, nothing happened. He got away with it, never mentioned in court.
He also submitted over 200 pages of evidence. Judge made a comment but otherwise nothing happened.
Family court seems more lenient with these things unfortunately.

AH! He has a solicitor

I wonder of that might make a difference in terms of how the Court views it.

I would certainly advise the Court that you have not had your statement as directed

His statement has to be dated, and it will be clear from that and what he writes in it, whether he's responding/reacting to yours or not. If he does, the judge is likely to give him short shrift. Judges don't tend to like it when people ignore their orders.
If it's signed and dated by the filling date then the likelihood is it's his solicitor not filling it.

So I had a reply from his solicitor saying they'll submit it when they can. I've emailed a C2 form to the court and requested late submissions be dismissed. They could have applied for an extension. They could have informed me and the court. There is no reasonable excuse for this and with it being the final hearing there is no room for allowances.

I'm an unqualified SAHM, doing my statement in the 30 minutes between nap time and the school run, I got mine in on time, there is no excuse for a team of solicitors being late with theirs.

I recommend using Claude. My MIL self-represented at a work tribunal and she used Claude to write out her statements. It’s an incredibly useful tool when you’re busy as you are. Good luck.

So his solicitor has now told me that he has been reading my statement and looking at my evidence. In detail. And yet still hasn't presented his own. Hasn't requested and extension not given an explanation.

I don't understand, this is really not ok isn't it?!

Do you have a solicitor if you do get them to send this and if you don’t send it yourself

Dear solicitor

I am writing regarding the upcoming court hearing and the filing of position statements.
The court deadline for your client to file and serve his position statement has now passed. You have already confirmed safe receipt of my position statement, which was filed strictly in accordance with the court order.
I note your admission that you received your client's document on time but failed to file and serve it by the deadline (??? This is what they have said or do they not have his statement????) . Court deadlines exist for a reason to ensure fairness and allow both parties adequate time to prepare.
Please provide a copy of your client's position statement by 5:00 pm this Friday, 22 nd May 2026.

If the document is not received by this time, I will formally ask the court to dismiss your client's position statement due to a failure to follow correct legal procedure, leaving me inadequate time to prepare and also as your client saw my statement in advance of writing his own position statement.

Yours sincerely

maybe put the above through AI and tighten it up a bit but make it clear

@Daybydayhour
Thank you so much. I have sent something very similar. He didn't acknowledge their delay at all and just started disputing my evidence.

I have informed the court and requested their statement be disregarded and sent screenshots of him email saying they'll do it asap and haven't filed for an extension and making remarks on my evidence showing he has been reading my evidence.

I can't for the life of me understand what would be delaying them if he's clearly had the time to read my own statement and evidence. Part of me is worried they're going to drop some last minute big evidence, but I can't even think what could be as there's nothing they can hold against me at all. But even then surely they'd still be required to inform me and the court of the delay.

They've just unilaterally decided not to file by the deadline and do what they please.

So I still haven't received it. And with the bank holiday that puts the earliest submission at Tuesday, 6 days after the deadline. We only had 2 weeks to do the statement so he's given himself an extra 50% and a week of reading my statement and evidence.