Family law undertakings

[ElsieMc]

I have to hand my GS (I have had a residence order for 8 years) over for holiday contact very shortly. His father is violent and has numerous convictions, one for an assault on a child. He has now committed another assault and has been sent to Crown court. His behaviour over the past year has gone downhill and I am afraid for my GS. I know I have to comply with the order, he has taken me back to court again and again on minor issues and I am just worn out. I feel damned if I do and damned if I don't.

He has handled GS roughly in the past and is very, very unpredictable. He has told me he will knock me out and will do something to me when I have raised similar concerns. I have thought about asking his family to provide me with undertakings to supervise contact as a safeguard but I think they will refuse. Is this a sensible course of action?

Seek legal advice now.

You do not say how long you have before contact is due to take place. My immediate advice would be that if you have any concerns over welfare of GS then you do not hand him over. This may well be a breach of the previous order but given the recent (and highly relevant )change in circumstances this would be a reasonable response and in the best interests of the child until supervised contact is considered (and hopefully ordered) by the court.

I sympathise with you that going back and forth to court on the previous, minor issues will really have knocked the stuffing out of you. However, I do not think that the current serious assault, the threats to you and the risk to GS are minor issues. A court may well refuse but the current behaviour is relevant.

I also agree with collaborate,...go get some legal advice as quickly as possible, - like tomorrow ElsieMc. Good luck with it.

I third Collaborate's advice. You need to see someone pronto about getting the order suspended/varied to provide for supervision.

I fifth Collaborate.

To expand on my brief post - if there has been a change of circumstances since the contact order was made such that you now think that the father presents a risk to the child then you might be able to stop the contact. Genuine safety concerns trump court orders. BUT you must be prepared to justify yourself in court. This is why you need urgent advice.

Many thanks for your kind advice. I am going to have to give this more thought as given past poor experiences in court, I didn't think I had a hope in hell of getting the contact suspended or varied. I will attend his hearing to see exactly what has happened.