Witness statement for final hearing with no exhibits?

[TrickyExHelp]

Hi there - received my ex’s witness statement earlier today for our upcoming final CAO hearing and it contains no exhibits whatsoever. Is this unusual?

In contrast, I’m due to write my response witness statement in 3 weeks time and have already lined up several exhibits to include with help from my solicitor. In a nutshell, my ex wants to vary our current CAO (EOW & half school hols) to have 50-50 shared care. However, he’s barely able to manage his current time with the kids and regularly cancels contact with them, leaving them in my care. He wouldn’t be able to cope with 50-50. I have numerous text-messages from him about these cancellations and will include a sample of them as exhibits for my statement. Due to his inconsistency, the kids often don’t always want to have contact with him (although I make them go - he’d accuse me of parental alienation otherwise 🙄) and so the idea of going 50-50 would be terrible for them. He’s also abusive towards me in his messages and it is impossible to Co-parent effectively with him because he’s always wanting a fight. I’ve got these messages lined up as exhibits as well.

Not unusual. The purpose of a witness statement is that it stands as their evidence in chief. If they don't feel the need to support their statement with documentary evidence that is for them to decide.

Thanks @Collaborate - will it go against him though? He’s told several untruths about me in his statement but hasn’t backed them up with anything (he can’t as he has no evidence about wrongdoing on my part).

The simple act of not having any exhibits won't go for or against him. Some things don't lend themselves to documentary evidence. Of course, if he makes a statement that could be proved through the documentary record that the party has access to but they but fib about it and you can show it is untrue, that could be held against him (for example "I sent a text message to X stating that the item was sold as seen" and doesn't exhibit the message but the other party does and it clearly shows them telling X they had tested the item and guaranteed it was in good working order) then the court wouldn't be impressed by what would appear to be an attempt to hide relevant evidence and the truth.