Advice on response to statement for residence

[gracehedley]

My ex h has started court application to get a residence order for our son - he wants sole residence. He has a solicitor and I am representing myself. I have received his statement which is long and detailed (18 pages) and am thinking about putting together my response - is there a preferred way of doing this - ought I to address every point he has raised, or be more brief in my objections? Should I only respond to the points he has made, or can I bring in other relevant factors? Thanks for any advice.

Hi grace, I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable will be along, but to answer your last question, yes, you can bring in other relevant factors - there's no reason why he should dictate what is put before the court.

As for addressing every point - it depends what you've got to say. You might go into details on one point, eg. "X claims I have blocked access, but here are emails showing I offered access on these dates. X did not avail of any of these opportunities."

While on other points you could just say briefly:

"With regards to his allegations in paragraphs 6 to 16, I deny all the allegations and note that X has not provided any supporting evidence for any of them".

Thanks bibliomania. No evidence has been mentioned at this stage - maybe that will come later.

I was thinking that because he is the applicant and I am the respondent. I might be expected to address the points he raises, and that's all.

All advice welcome!

Bloody hell, poor you, sounds like a nightmare! Hope you get some good legal advice soon.

Have you had any hearings to date or is this the first directions hearing?

18 pages sounds quite excessive.has it raised welfare concerns? Are there welfare concerns?

we had a first hearing - 30 mins - where they ordered us to provide statements - so I am forming my response to ex h's statement, which is what I am asking about here. Then a Cafcass report will follow, then there will be another hearing. There are no welfare concerns.

Well, firstly residence is now replaced by `who the children live with'.

18 pages is long!

You don't have to respond to allegations. If they are false simply state `I refute all allegations' and leave it like that. Outline the situation - when you met, married, child born, separated, that sort of thing and then outline the situation - i.e. how your DS divides his times.

That's about it!

You say you have been ordered to produce statements - about anything in particular (i.e. allegations?) or just a position statement? A judge isn't going to sit through 18 pages of unsubstantiated waffle and will likely lose interest on the 4th page.

The statements I draft tend to be 3 pages at the absolute maximum and I have noticed in the hearings I attend to with people that the judges actually READ them.

One thing to be aware of is that if you have been ordered to serve copies to the court and the other party by a certain date is that these deadlines are frequently ignored. It may not be a good idea to say, send a copy of your statement to the other party which then gives them time to read, respond to your one and counter your argument. Make sure you swap them - go to the solicitor's office with your copy and ask for theirs (call them first...don't want to surprises them!)

Thanks Lostdad.
Ex h wants our son to live with him and has started court application.
He has produced a statement outlining why (the 18 pages one) and now I have 3 weeks to respond with my own statement - saying why not. Don't know if they are called position statements. Then Cafcass officer will see them and include them in his report. I was surprised at the length and detail of his and wondered what I should be including.

One thing to be aware of is that if you have been ordered to serve copies to the court and the other party by a certain date is that these deadlines are frequently ignored. It may not be a good idea to say, send a copy of your statement to the other party which then gives them time to read, respond to your one and counter your argument. Make sure you swap them - go to the solicitor's office with your copy and ask for theirs

lostdad, my ex and I are meant to serve statements by Fri. I've emailed him and texted him to ask him to meet to exchange - he's ignoring me, and I'm pretty certain he has no intention of giving me his on time, or perhaps at all. He doesn't have a solicitor, and I'm trying to avoid using mine - she's in a different town anyway. So what can I do? How can I make him give it to me on time?

I'm sure he's trying to get some kind of strategic advantage - he has form for sending the judge documents without letting me know. I'm not intending to change my statement in response to his, so do I just go ahead and give him my one on time? I don't want to be in breach of the order. Grrr.

You can't in short.

If you have a solicitor speak to her. She should be managing your case and if you're paying her she should be giving you her advice.

If you've been ordered to file it by Friday, do it. If he is late with his or doesn't do it make sure you send a message (the first rule of court being it's not what you do, but what you are seen to do) so it is clear he has ignored a court order'.

Lostdad - or anyone who knows - would these initial statements that we've been told to prepare be position statements? (Does it make any difference what they are called?) And is it the done thing to make reference to any form of evidence - which will mostly be emails - in these statements? Thanks again.

Position statements are usually short documents of no more than two sides of A4 which are drafted by your solicitor.

Statements are longer and signed by you.

Doesn't seem to make much difference to my cases which I have but if a court has ordered a document by a certain date you need to at least try to comply. Its not like other civil proceedings where your claim will be struck out if you don't obey orders for production of evidence... but you risk annoying judge.

Basic rules for writing your own statements; I agree with lost dad, the shorter the better.
Try to keep a coherent order.
Write it in short NUMBERED paragraphs.
Don't waffle
If you have ten good points, make those, don't add the fifty or so less good points as then the impact of the ten good points is lost.

Sorry, missed your last question.

You can make reference to other evidence by attaching it as an appendix.

For eg

'X has repeatedly sent me emails that i have found intimidating and harassing, despite my requests that he stop. I attach copies of these emails at Appendix 1 to my statement'.

BUT same rules apply re conciseness. A statement with 20 Appendices is going to lose its impact.

Thanks spero. Think I am getting unnecessarily bothered on what it's called - whether it's a statement or a position statement. My ex's is 18 pages long but no mention of evidence. I'm representing myself and do plan to file it on time.

Don't worry - easy for me to say I know!

But if you just put it into short, numbered paragraphs the Judge will be so grateful, you can call it whatever the hell you want.

O, and 12 font arial looks good, at least 1.5 line spacing.

This may sound trivial but I have learned over 15 years you can tell sooooo much about the quality of someone's thought process by how they present their documents.

Pages and pages of closely typed stream of narrative, with little attention to time, date or supporting evidence always set alarm bells ringing.

A witness statement is where you give your side of the case, with any supporting evidence - it is effectively your "evidence in chief" so that you don't have to repeat it all in court.

A position statement is a summary of a party's current position coming up to a hearing - so a summary of what his/her case is, and why. These are expected to sum up a party's case, and do not include evidence.

Hope that helps!

(lostdad, thanks for the answer to me).

Thanks all. We have just been told to produce statements so not sure if evidence is required at this stage or not. I could refer to it in an appendix as suggested above I suppose. Spero I like your point re quality of thought process. Ex h's statement full of colloquialisms and very rambling. I was surprised his solicitor didn't advise him to adjust it.

Spero `Pages and pages of closely typed stream of narrative, with little attention to time, date or supporting evidence always set alarm bells ringing.'

Whaaatttt??? You mean a judge won't read a 22 page document consisting of one paragraph of densely-packed text, unsubstantiated personal views and stuff that has no bearing on the case?

Don't get hung up on the terminology of position statements, statements, whatever. It doesn't really matter that much. A position statement is a generalised statement when it comes to the situation. Courts will sometimes order that statements concerning particular issues are filed (DV allegations, health, whatever).

In my experience most solicitors don't bother with a position statement unless they've explicitly been ordered and some of them even object on the grounds leave hadn't been given by the court. However at the hearings I assist at I found the court pretty receptive to something that is short, sweet and lays out the situation in plain and factual terms.

Now litigants in person are getting much more common I am sure I've seen a few judges sigh in relief that they don't have to rely on two unrepresented parties arguing the toss.

OK. Starting to feel a bit better about it

lostdad, what I find really helpful in all my cases is to have about 20 pages of really closely typed stream of consciousness narrative, which jumps back and forth in space and time with no clear chronology or attempt at structure.

What is even more thrilling is to find this accompanied by several schedules, or even pie charts on one wonderful occasion, using lots of different colours.

I really find this aids my understanding of a case and certainly the Judge is delighted to find this kind of thing on his/her desk first thing.

I love my job and this is not sarcasm.

now I am worried that someone might read my last post and take it seriously.

Sorry, I am procrastinating at work and attempting to be humorous. Why, I don't know as any such attempts usually crash and burn.

please do NOT EVER present your case in the way I described in last paragraph. Far better just not to turn up to court at all, than present your case in that way.

Ha, Spero, I was about to ask if you'd been providing legal advice to my ex.

I have seen pie charts in bundles.

But I ain't never seen an elephant fly

Wondering if you were the solicitor in that case now...

How about my ex enclosing photos of himself and dd beaming on Santa's sleigh?