Family solicitor

[AliceTown]

If a court order does not mention [this thing], is a solicitor acting appropriately if they say to the other side

Either you [do this thing] or the children will not be made available

?

[This thing] is not a safeguarding issue.

No. Orders are made to be obeyed, and child contact is not there to give you everage.

Leverage, even.

Does it fall within whatever the solicitors code is to threaten a litigant in person in this way?

I see. In the past, my own solicitor would say "My clients instructions are"... whereas this one has written it exactly as above. Literally just "My client is not [doing the thing they don't want to do.] Either you [do the thing] or they won't be made available". It's nothing to do with safeguarding or welfare at all and cannot possibly be construed as such.

Feels like he's allowed to use his authority as a solicitor to try and intimidate, in a way. His letter reads like his client is allowed to withhold the children.

This happens every single time there is a holiday or special occasion. It is so tedious

I agree with familylawsolicitor. It doesn't sound improper. Your response would be: the Order dated ... does not make X a precondition of contact. Please make the child available at X time in accordance with the Order.

That's what I've done, I'm just tired of the threats.
Thank you.

Thank you. He's a rude and intimidating man in person so that probably hasn't helped with my reaction.
I appreciate the clarification.

Feels like he's allowed to use his authority as a solicitor to try and intimidate, in a way. His letter reads like his client is allowed to withhold the children.

Are solicitors " allowed" to do this - they may be taking their clients instruction but as Alice said do they not have some code of conduct that comes first.

I have experienced this sort of thing too as a LIP and I'm not sure if they would use this language to another solicitor.

I also had X's solicitor saying that she had couriered significant documents to my house. When I challenged her asking for couriers details she refused to supply them. I told her I did not believe she had done this as I was home that day and this was an attempt to undermine me infront of the court. The courier costs were included in my x!s costs that she was trying to get paid by me.

Surely this sort of behaviour is not acceptable. The solicitors are antagonising the situation and this is where a conflict arises because the more they do this the more their fee income goes up. I suffer with depression which also means I become exhausted very easily due to trying to keep on top of petty issues like this, it also means I can miss something.

Family.

It's poorly written but it's not coming from the solicitor, it's certainly the solicitor's client.

Isn't this what the qualification is all about - no doubt if the op had written something like this to the client his solicitor would have accused her of threatening behaviour ( as in my case).

My solicitor would often reword some of what I was saying - I assume to keep it within certain parameters. This is what I would expect.

This solicitor sounds like he is taking advantage that op is LIP and grinding her down so that she is unable to put up a fight

Isn't this what the qualification is all about

In this case the client is saying that they will not comply with the court order unless the OP does X. The solicitor will have advised the client against this course of action and will have warned them that the OP may take action to enforce the court order. However, if the client continues to hold that position, the solicitor must communicate it to the other side as per the client's instructions.

In this instance rewording the client's position achieves nothing. The client is clear that the OP must do X or they will not make the children available for contact. Either the solicitor communicates that or they withdraw from the case.

This is definitely not the solicitor taking advantage of the OP. It is the solicitor following client instructions. The client may be trying to grind down the OP but that is another matter.

I understand where both of you are coming from.
I suppose it would just be helpful if the solicitor worded his emails as "My client's instruction is..." rather than literally just "Either do this or the children won't be there".

Kind of pointless as I didn't do the thing and the children were still made available. No doubt the same thing will repeat for the summer holidays!