Parental Rights - Advice Please!!

[Nofilter]

Hello,

I'm supporting a family member through a really stressful process.

Her daughters father (Domestic Violence history) has popped up after 9 years of zero contact with an expensive legal team and all guns blazing to gain access to her DD (9).

The process is ongoing - the biggest fear is that this person with a very questionable track record will eventually be able to take her DD and be responsible for her - the thought is horrifying!!

His arrival has meant considerable legal costs for my friend who is in her final year at Uni and a single mother to two children. Regardless of a failed drug test, regular and constant DV charges over he last decade among other things he is going to get contact - it starts with fortnightly letters and then contact centre visits.

With this in mind can we please enquire whether
contacting the CSA for maintenance support from an absent father would bolster his case to gain PR in any way? He's never paid a penny for 9 years and I'm advising my friend to ask for this (he's projecting himself as a very wealthy businessmen) rather than her children suffer due to decimated finances for the foreseeable...

Is this a disadvantageous route to go down if I do not want him to gain PR?

Please don't assume we are money grabbing here or are hypocritical towards him. Some families live on extremely tight budgets, my friend has been going to uni to get herself and her children out of the poverty trap and the repercussions of having to find these legal expenses are literally coming down to putting food on the table or not.

Help and advice most appreciated.

Child maintenance and spending time with a child are two separate issues, neither one is dependent on the other.

She can make a claim for maintenance, but it won't be backdated for nine years unless she made a previous claim.

Thankyou for responding just.

Anything would be helpful right now as she's totally broke from having to find almost £1200 and it's ongoing, more court dates and £300 per month for managing these letters.

Who knows something good might come of it but she has to protect her DD. Feels a bit unfair as he has this huge legal team - and her lawyer was fawning over his barrister saying how amazing she is :(

Thanks I'll suggest she looks into it.

Personally Nofilter I would self represent. This is an extremely normal situation in the family courts now adays and judges are extremely supportive. Also not hard for you because you are simply defending the application. You need to tell the court your reasons for not allowing unsupervised contact. They are straightforward and reasonable. (Violence and drug taking) however there is very little chance that any court will refuse this contact if he is prepared for the long haul. Mainly because the argument is based on facts.
If he is the father this can be easily established by dna.
If he he isn't then end of.
If he is then IF he jumps through the hoops of ;
Period of indirect contact
Period of direct supervised contact. and behaves well giving NO reason for concern then he WILL have unsupervised court ordered contact under a regular schedule that the mother will be legally obliged to permit.

It's shit I know but once he has established parental rights through the court - bar doing anything to cause detriment to the child's welfare- he WILL get contact. So get your friend to stop shelling out funds for something that cannot be prevented.
This does NOT mean give up - but do not take food off the table to pay legal bills that will achieve nothing. The time for a lawyer is IF he fucks up in anyway and you have reason to vary the Child arrangement order.

We self represented a CAO application and a 'leave to remove 'case. Very complicated AND CAFCASS report was to recommend they go because mum would get sad if she wasn't allowed () .. we won.
If your friend is doing a degree she has the intelligence to stand up in court and tell a judge why this man is not a positive influence in child's life. No cost.

Oh and definitely go for Csa!!

Thankyou for the kind advice I have relayed everything and I do think my friend will self represent... it has to stop somewhere these crazy costs basically...

Her DD has plenty of strong women around her well get her through this...

Unless he's had PR rights removed... he still has them as the father

But requesting CM is something that he should have been paying and won't harm her or help him

Him not paying CM won't go in his favour, along with his history but he's always had and continues to have PR I think?? Unless he voluntarily gave them up and signed things to that effect

Unless he's had PR rights removed... he still has them as the father

Not true. Mothers always get PR. Fathers don't. He will only have PR if he was married to the mother at the time of birth or named as father on the birth certificate. He can also gain PR by agreement with the mother or by court order.

Unless he voluntarily gave them up and signed things to that effect

It appears he does not have PR so this is irrelevant. It is also wrong. A father cannot voluntarily give up PR. He will lose PR if the child is adopted. If he was not married to the mother at the time of birth his PR can be removed by court order.