breaking a contact order

[maccie]

hi there people,

I'm hoping someone could give me advice for a freind of mine. Its a long complicated story but I will try to keep it as breif as possible. She has two seperate but connected issues.

Firstly what can be done about and ex partner who keeps breaking a contact order by either not returning the child at all or attempting to take him on days that are not in the court order. He has three times just refused to bring him home(once over christmas and new year) and twice not returned him from weekend visits. He has also tried to collect the child from school when it is not his sceduled days. The police were called on every occasion but state that as he is not in danger they cannot remove him. I cannot understand this as the mother has a residence order and a contact order stating when the contact starts and ends. They did however not allow him to take him from school but the distress of having both parents upset and the police involved had already been done.

Secondly to try and resolve the above matter the mother went to her original solicitor to try to see how to go about this, and was told in no uncertain terms to leave the office as they cannot discuss this due to conflict of interests. We can only assume this means they are now acting for him. How on earth can this be ok. They are still holding all the evidence used against him in the original case. Including domestic violence proof, Harrassment proof, all paperwork regarding this matter basically. The solicitors are refusing to even discuss what happens to these files now.

She is currently trying to arrange another solicitor to represent her but had many difficulties in this as her ex has used nearly every solicitor in town at some point in time and therefore it would be a conflict of intrest for them to now represent her. oh the irony of it.

She does not wish to stop contact altogether as the child has a lot of love for his father but even when everything is stated in orders this man thinks he can just please himself and no-one seems able to do anything about it. Why have the orders at all if they are not enforceable.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

She can ask the court to make a prohibited steps order endorsed with a penal notice to keep him away from the school. The court can also make a mandatory order for the child's return at the end if contact.
I suspect the solicitor started to act for him in an unrelated matter after your friends case ended, so there is now a conflict of interest. She's just got to keep trying to find one.

That is the case he used her solicitors for his divorce from his wife.

But surely as she is a former client and this is now regarding the same custody case that they are holding all the evidence on they shouldnt be acting for him in it ???

She has managed to find one that will represent her they are just sorting the legal aid proofs so they can act. But what happens to the files ? and even if they hand them back to her they still have the knowledge of what was in them.

Also he is allowed to collect the child from school every other weekend and one day each week, so I dont think they would be able to keep him from the school. Its just he turns up on other times too.

No they can't act for him.

But she's got representation now so hopefully her solicitor will Dort it out for her.

Out of interest, what happens if a contact order includes provision about behaviour e.g.undertakings not to shout/swear/undermine in front of kids and one party persists in doing this..

Resolution here. You've got to take it back to court. Those kinds of undertakings are markers for appropriate behavior and serve to highlight concerns held by one of the parties or the court at the time the order is made, but no more. The allegations are often disputed.

Well, we have to go back to court anyway on the kids so I guess I could bring it up then...I have recordings of what he says to me in front of the girls..it;s quite vicious and he also tries to haggle on money issues in front of the kids