Family court

[Freshwaterlilly]

Hi
I’ve only just joined as I can’t find an answer to my question
my daughter is in a bitter court battle with ex partner domestic abuse
child care issues my grandson is 3 non verbal and autistic
she has been taken to court by her ex partner as he has applied to have unsupervised contact with my grandson long story so will not bore everyone
he’s paying privately and my daughter has got legal aid
2 questions court has apparently sent the court directions to her ex partner solicitor and not her solicitor which I find extremely strange and wrong it puts her ex great advantage to her and seems unfair
her solicitor has told her that she has asked the other side for the directions
they are being underhanded and extremely difficult to deal with
I always believed that the court sends directions to both sides not just the applicant
I believe my daughters solicitor is unhelpful to my daughter and is this because my daughter gets legal aid and her solicitor does not seem to have much time for my daughter she is continually chasing her solicitor this is causing my daughter great stress can anyone enlighten me please

It’s the court bundle that’s needed. However this might be as late as 3 days before the hearing. The legal aid solicitor should prepare DDs in line with requirements. Are barristers involved? Who is representing DD in court?

Hi
i think i didnt explain properly
court case has been done (2nd hearing)
the judge gave directions that both parties provide statements and other things
this is to decide if a fact finding hearing is necessary as there is domestic abuse
and my grandson’s disability
my daughters ex partner has already got the directions sent to him by the court
(which was now almost 2 weeks ago)
my daughters solicitor has told my daughter that she has asked the other side for a copy of the directions and obviously they are no playing ball
i believe that both sides should have been sent a copy of the judges directions
and her solicitor frankly is not doing her job
all I am asking is do both sides get a copy of the judge’s directions through their respective solicitors?

Can she not ask the Clerk to the Court or the legal adviser supporting the court for the Directions? It should be available to both parties.

The court will send the order out to both parties. If the court has not sent one out to your daughter's side then the possibilities are:

1. No acknowledgment form has been filed, so they don't have the solicitor as the address for service.
2. If above, they would still have sent it to your daughter at the address given for her in the C100 application. Has she moved away from there?
3. Error of the court.

Thank you for your replies the solicitor my daughter has seems very uninterested in my daughter’s situation and doesn’t get back to my daughter or seem to want to help really
she gives the impression she can’t be bothered
she told my daughter that she has asked the other side for the directions and they have not provided them I think this is a untrue
I have absolutely no doubt she has had these directions but couldn’t be bothered to send them to my daughter until we have kicked up a fuss
surely this shouldn’t be this way I thought the solicitor was supposed to help my daughter not hinder
sadly my daughter has been very unlucky with this solicitor and she knows as she is getting legal aid she can’t change her solicitor this is very concerning as this is my grandson wellbeing here and I don’t know how I can help my daughter

I would ask the solicitor to chase it from the court but failing that, your daughter could contact the court office directly to see if a further copy of the order could be sent out. She should explain she hasn't seen it and that she needs to have sight of it.

Also, I believe she could change solicitors if she wanted - she would just need to get the legal aid certificate transferred which can be a bit of a faff.

Lots of solicitors - not just legal aid ones - are really, really busy and sometimes all it takes is a little (polite!) pushing by the client to get things done. I think your daughter would feel better if she had a copy of the court order because then she could chase the solicitor when dates for statements etc are coming up.

Good luck x

Thank you all for your input
that was eventually sorted out it seems the family court are not really interested in the other side’s behaviour now she has another problem that the court ordered statements from both side to be exchanged on a certain date (directions from court) my daughters solicitor made it quite clear to my daughter this must be complied with or it would be a breech of the court order
she done what she was asked
however her ex partner is stalling and two weeks later he still has not or his solicitor still has not exchanged statements making several excuses that he busy or working…..
my question is can her solicitor apply to the court and ask for the whole of the case to be dismissed? because of his totally inability to comply with this?
that way he would have to start from scratch again
her ex thinks this is a game he’s already broke the court agreement to have 2 hours at a contact centre once a week he can only now do an hour
and already indicated to the centre he might not be able to do that either
all this has a terrible effect on my daughter and very upsetting for my grandson especially as he has autism
sadly my experience so far of family courts is worrying they don’t seem to be interested in what’s best for the child just a ticking the boxes would greatly appreciate any advice please

My DP had this with his ex. First lot of paperwork field on the morning of court. Second and third lot also late. Court didn’t seem to really care altho that said it didn’t change outcome.

Sadly this needs playing out imo. Dd needs to comply exactly with the instructions.. Let her ex fail on paper is the only way.. The contact centre will forward details of his non attendance and excuses... It won't bode well for him if he can't even stick to the initial plan.

Hi and sadly this situation can’t get much worse my daughters solicitor has informed her that she will not work for her anymore
very long story basically loss of confidence and trust
which I agree with this solicitor from the start has been very disappointing because the ethics of this law firm is
to negotiate in a non confrontational way that’s a lovely sentiment if we were not dealing with a drug dealer with a criminal record domestic violence sexual assault in front of my grandson cohesive control my grandson is now four and this case has been back to court 3 times it’s that serious there is a fact finding hearing to be done
every agency you can think of have been involved
social service cafcass police DV advocate NSPCC my grandson is incredibly vulnerable and this solicitor is not listening to my daughter’s genuine concerns for his safety
there is so much more to this case but I realise people’s attention is short
we are shocked and shattered that this solicitor could do this right in the middle of these court proceedings just to add judge went against section 7 report and has given unsubstantiated and unsupervised contact until fact finding hearing
my grandson can’t talk he non verbal with autism
and this in his best interests
anyone out there please advise