Help! Received notice of court date 4 days after baby’s due date

[PracticallySpeaking]

I just received a notice of a First Appointment from my ex-husband for the end of June. The court date is 4 days after my baby’s due date and before that date it says I have to submit a whole load of documents (Form E, chronologically, draft order, questionnaire, statement of issues, directions sought..)

I really don’t know how I’m going to be able to prepare all this without the help of a lawyer within 6 weeks when I don’t even know what these terms mean and I might give birth at any point within the next 6 weeks.

I just want to cry, I don’t know where to start. It doesn’t even say anywhere what my ex is asking for other than a “periodical payments order”, so how am I supposed to respond? He lives abroad and I can only assume he wants to pay less child maintenance than the foreign court awarded.

I’m so tired of all this. Just spent the last 2 years fighting in the foreign courts over custody and unpaid child support, and most recently a criminal case where he was finally found guilty of document forgery (he was claiming child benefit for our child and keeping it after forging my signature)

Write to the court and ask for a new timetable. They will give you one.

Hi - I’m a family barrister. The best thing would be to write to your ex’s solicitors (if he has them, otherwise him directly) and explain that you are unable to attend on that date due to giving birth shortly before. Ask if they will agree to adjourn by consent, and suggest a more suitable time period, e.g. 3 months later(?) If he won’t agree (which would be very unreasonable) then write to the court and ask for an adjournment.
As for periodical payments - is he seeking that from you? That means spousal maintenance. Would be amazed if he succeeded... Please do seek legal advice if you’re able to though.

Thanks so much @Paperlantern123 and Collaborate for replying. That gives me hope the court might adjourn it.

He doesn’t have a solicitor. I’ll do as you suggested and ask him if he will agree to an adjournment and then write to the court after I get his response, thank you. I know he will say no but at least it will look like I’ve tried.

I’ve realized it says it will be an “electronic paper hearing only”. I phoned the court to ask about how to write to request an adjournment and the member of staff seemed to think that my due date was irrelevant since there’s no hearing to attend, but it’s the preparation of all the documents I’m worried about.

I’m guessing the periodical payments order he is seeking is for our child (to lower what he currently pays), not spousal maintenance. But I’m very confused as to why on the A1 form he ticked “the applicant intends to apply for:” and wrote “periodical payments order” instead of “to vary a periodical payments order”, since there is already a recent foreign court order in place that orders him to pay child maintenance of a certain amount when I move to the UK (which I recently did). And it’s not that his financial situation has changed, he still earns over £90,000 per year. I thought that when someone takes you to court you would be informed by the court of what exactly they are asking for.

I’m sure that lawyers fees vary wildly but what would you say would be a reasonable range for me to expect to pay a lawyer for the whole case? I do have some savings and know that a good lawyer would be worth it, but my freelance clients stopped sending me work due to the Coronavirus pandemic and I’m about to be on £600 maternity allowance and my current husband recently lost his job and isn’t entitled to furloughing or JSA or universal credit and isn’t having any luck even getting a job in a supermarket/warehouse right now. So I’m thinking would it be better to keep my savings to know I will be able to pay our expensive London rent or get a lawyer knowing that the court will most likely lower his child support payment in the end anyway (going by the CMS calculator he would pay less than what the foreign court ordered).

You cant afford a lawyer by the sounds if it and if he hasn't got one you aren't at a disadvantage.

@PracticallySpeaking - no problem. I totally understand why you’re worried about preparing all these documents in the final stages of pregnancy, but I’m wondering if it will be any easier with a newborn baby? Unfortunately, now that your ex has started financial remedy proceedings, the court will be keen to keep things moving on - it won’t just allow you to say that you want to revisit things in 6 months, for example. So do consider whether you’re able to get together the documents now - Form E may not be too complicated depending on your financial situation, a questionnaire is something you raise after you’ve seen his Form E (why haven’t you included xxx bank account that I know you have? Why do you say your budget is xxx? Etc) Chronology is simple. And if you’re not represented, I don’t think a judge would expect you to prepare a statement of issues, and certainly not a draft order.

Periodical payments in this context definitely refers to spousal maintenance, not child maintenance, but given that your ex isn’t represented, he probably doesn’t understand this and has just ticked the box regardless. I wouldn’t worry about it, if he is earning £90,000 a year like you say, his chances of getting spousal maintenance from you are less than zero! I know it’s frustrating that you don’t know what specifically he wants yet, but that’s because both of you don’t really know the other’s financial position yet (that’s what Form E is for) and so can’t say specifically what you’re after, because you don’t know how big the pot is. Does that make sense?

As for how much a lawyer would cost - I’m really sorry, I can’t help here. How long is a piece of string?! It will totally depend on the complexity of your case, the ‘prestige’ of lawyers you go for, whether you’re able to settle early on or H pushes things all the way, etc. And as a barrister, I ‘drop’ into the case relatively late, and am not part of setting fees, offering quotes, etc. That’s already been done by the time I arrive on the scene. I would suggest ringing around a few solicitors to get a sense of what they offer, and go from there.

Very best to you, and I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well x

@Paperlantern123 yes, you are right that trying to do all the paperwork with a newborn would be difficult too, so I spent yesterday getting my Form E1 done and it’s nearly ready. So thanks for that push.

The court has set the deadline for filing our E1 forms as 12th June but then the notice also says the questionnaire etc. has to be filed by 14 days before the hearing (which is also 12th June). Does that sound right to you?

Tomorrow is Monday, so I’ll try calling round some solicitors.

Thanks again x

Thanks @Familylawsolicitor

Yes, it’s really complicated so I do think I need legal advice like you said. Maybe I can find a solicitor willing to give advice on an hourly basis instead of representing me in the whole case. Do you offer this type of service? If so, please pm me with details and costs.

This is really interesting where you said: “If you cannot get advice send the foreign court order and a brief details of what happened abroad and request a directions hearing”. So do you mean sending an email to the court with the foreign court order attached and a brief summary like “parties divorced in 2017 and agreed on X amount of child support, attachment of earnings order issued in 2018 due to unpaid child support, mother authorized to relocate to UK in 2019 and foreign court lowered the child support to Y amount in view of move and lower cost of living in UK, second instance confirmed this judgment in January 2020, father didn’t appeal to Supreme Court, February 2020 father convicted of document fraud (for stealing child benefit), mother moved to UK in February 2020, father’s financial situation has not changed since 2019 so I believe he has no grounds to vary the foreign court order” and then ask them to cancel the first appointment (and requirement to send E1 forms) and request a directions hearing instead?

Or would I say something more along the lines of I think a directions hearing is necessary to establish jurisdiction and what needs to happen procedurally because I believe he has applied for the wrong thing?