Urgent court matter regarding CAO

[Anna713]

My son is due to attend court on Tuesday because his exwife is trying to vary the child arrangement order. The child of the marriage lives solely with him and does not see her mother. His is representing himself. Two days ago there was an incident in which his exwife physically threatened him, not for the first time. He called the police and has a crime number. He has independent witnesses. He is trying to get an urgent non molestation order. Can he bring this up in court on Tuesday? He believes it to be more evidence that the ex poses a safeguarding issue to their child. His exwifes solicitor is aware of the incident and of course he says she denies it. Does he have to inform the exs solicitor that he intends to bring it up. I have tried chatgpt but get a different answer every time.

I can't help, other than to say please don't rely on ChatGPT for anything reliable.

he should ring Family Rights Group for advice. Chat GPT is utterly shit at legal advice.

Thanks both

Is this the first hearing? If so a judge will hear brief summary of the case and likely to schedule a Cafcass review where the full details/evidence can be reviewed.

How old is the child? Was there a previous court hearing that prevented the mother from having access?

There was a hearing about 18 months ago when my son got the 'lives with' order. His ex is trying to get more access. There was a hearing a few weeks ago but the ex did not produce the evidence that was required. She is supposed to be producing it on Tuesday but meanwhile this incident has occurred which throws more light on her erratic and unpleasant behaviour. My son doesn't know if he should bring it up on Tuesday or wait for cafcass to investigate. The child is 14 and will not see her mother. He is not really worried about the cafcass report, they have always been very supportive, but he does think the judge should be aware of this latest incident which was serious. One of the exs previous conditions was that there was no further police involvement which now there has been.

If the child is 14 it should be up to them if they want contact. The judge will put the weight on what they have requested

Yes he can. He needs to submit the form for a non-molestation order to the court along with a witness statement of what happened and a few other examples of similar behaviour (if there is any). Ask the court to hear the application at the next hearing as it is relevant to those proceedings. He also needs to submit witness statements from anyone who witnessed the incident and information of the crime reference number, if she’s been warned/investigation is going etc.

The DC should also be named as protected parties on the non-mol if her behaviour is harmful to them (which it would be if her behaviour occurs where they can see/hear what’s going on or they are exposed to other toxic behaviours).

Request that it has powers of arrest attached.

Has a section 7 been completed? If so you can refer to that to corroborate anything that Cafcass may have highlighted too.

The problem is the hearing is this Tuesday. I am not sure if the non molestation order will come in time. He's applied online but not heard anything yet. Good point about the daughter being named on the non mol. I just wondered if he will get the chance to bring it up on Tuesday. Section 7 hasn't been completed yet. I suppose that is what the judge will order on Tuesday.

They should briefly hear it and implement an order if you can show a clear need for one. The court will then schedule a return hearing to hear it properly and to give his ex an opportunity to contest it, but your son and granddaughter will be covered in the meantime. He needs to be prepared to answer questions on any examples he gives in his statement, dates, what happened and the impact her behaviour had, how he tried to avoid/deescalate it etc.

You say she’s been warned for this before so make sure he draws the courts attention to that and how a non-molestation is now necessary.

The powers of arrest are pretty standard, but just double check they are added to the order.

Thankyou. That is most helpful.

He could get a non molestation order on Monday if he turns up at Court with his paperwork. They have to hear you if you turn up in person. If it meets the harm threshold the order can be made immediately.

If the mum is not being violent to the child the court won’t care about it.

At age 14 your granddaughter is gillick competent, the Court should listen
to her wishes.

It was a long time ago so I can't remember what it's called; but basically my ex was using court hearings to continue his control and abuse, calling me back to court most months for years. We applied for "something" that means they can't call you back to court again unless something in the child's wishes or other significant event happens.

The mum is not being violent to the child but it upsets her to know someone is threatening her dad . Surely this counts as emotional abuse?

He needs to submit an urgent C2 application asap. A C2 is to add to a current case...or else there's a chance it won't be allowed to be considered at the hearing. He can do this via a C2 because non mols can be granted alongside CAO for example

Send this off then email the court to say this has been done quoting the original case number in the subject.
At least then he can show he's made every effort of his intentions.

Thank you Squirrelchops1

You're welcome.
From experience courts hate having things dumped on them during the hearing. So to know the c2 is there also means they can plan how much hearing time they need etc.

Does your son send a position statement to the court (and other party) prior to each hearing? If so I'd summarise it on there too and then refer to it during the hearing.

Would you believe my sons ex mil turned up at my home about an hour or so ago. My son lives here with his daughter whilst his divorce is going through the court. She was screaming abuse at him and obviously drunk. She wanted to speak to me but I am not engaging with her. My son has phoned the police who took the details and said they would get back to him. Do you think there is any point in me phoning 101 too? Especially if the police don't get back to my son. My husband and I are in our 70s and could do without all this drama. It's not very good for my 14 year old granddaughter to hear all this either . God knows what the neighbours must think!

You mentioned a previous recent case, was the ex arrested/bailed for that? Just thinking if there's any bail condition such as no indirect contact, it would be a breach that ex's family did that, even though it wasn't ex herself

Your son now needs to ask the court to include you and your husband as protected parties on his non-molestation order in light of what’s happened this weekend. It will cover not only the actions of your exDiL but anyone acting on her behalf. If he can get it on Tuesday, the ex will get arrested if she or any of her family come near or contact any of you.

Do you have a ring doorbell or similar? If not you need to use your phone to record them if they come back (record every interaction for evidence) and get a camera installed.

Report it to 101 yourself too and see if the neighbours have any footage or can confirm what happened to the police/provide a statement for court.

If they come back call 999 straight away.

Unfortunately she was just out of range of our ring doorbell (our front door is at the side of the house) I will have a word with our neighbours tomorrow. They are very nice and are aware of the situation. Unfortunately the ex was not arrested on the previous occasion. The police were very good and asked my son if he wanted her arrested. He said no because of his young daughter who was still seeing her mum at the time, but now he wishes he had. I have calmed down a bit and made sure the house is securely locked. Thanks for your responses. Much appreciated.

Any update? Hope your sons court hearing went ok

Hi Londongirl8922. Yes it did go OK thanks. I think it was just a formality really. Cafcass are going to do a section 7 again. They only did one about 18 months ago and nothing much has changed. If anything mum has got even more chaotic. It went very much my sons way 18 months ago so hopefully it will go his way this time as well. The school have said they will support him all the way because they know what has been going on. It's still very stressful for him though. Thanks for asking.

That’s great news Anna..so glad it went ok for him! Hope you all have a lovely Christmas ☺️

Many thanks and Merry Christmas to you too x