Can the Respondent cancel family court proceedings

[TrickyExHelp]

Hi - I’ve got a complex situation. My ExH began made a CAO application last year to vary our current CAO agreement. Long story short, Cafcass has recommended that the current CAO should stay in place and they heavily criticised my ex in the Section 7 report.

Since the report came through nearly 6 months ago, my ex and his solicitors have stopped responding to my solicitors about the case. They’ve ignored deadlines for statements etc and we’ve heard nothing from them about the case at all. We’re meant to be having a final hearing but we haven’t received dates from the court and my ex/his solicitors have not chased it up.

On the basis of this, can I apply to the court to discontinue the case as the Respondent? It seems pretty clear that my ex no longer wants to proceed with the case but as he’s left everything so far, I doubt he would apply to withdraw his application.

Thanks for your advice.

Is your existing CAO being adhered to?
If it is I’d just leave him and his solicitor to sort out all the paperwork.

No. But the final hearing will go ahead without him and your solicitor can make an application to bar him from making any new applications without consent of the court for a defined period of time.

His solicitors have probably given up on him if he's not given instructions or paid the bill as it sounds like which will make things easier for you.

Thanks @Myfridgeiscool & @ShawnaMacallister . I’ve already applied for a barring order (this was supported by the family court adviser the Cafcass section 7 report - she suggested 3yrs) - I applied for this as soon as I received his application to vary the CAO.

My ex is a bit all over the place with the current CAO - I’m regularly called upon to ‘babysit’ the kids when they’re supposed to be with him.

My solicitor wants me to give them permission to contact the court and chase the final hearing dates. I really don’t want to do this - I just want to close the case and be done with it. Is this possible?

You won’t be able to “close the case” yourself, no. Either the applicant has to withdraw the application or the court decides to strike it out of its own volition (because the applicant has done nothing). You could ask the court to do that but they don’t have to just because you ask. They could list the hearing and have it go ahead whether or not your ex participates.

Ok - thanks @Elektra1 . It just makes me so angry! I’ve spent so much money (10s of thousands) so far fighting his nonsensical application to vary the CAO (even though he can’t cope with his caring responsibilities in the current one 😡) and then I’m going to have to spend thousands more to close the case now that he appears to have given up with it. He’s not working at the moment so he probably can’t even afford to pay for my wasted court costs. It’s so unfair ☹️!

You cant 'cancel' it as such, but the court matters will run their course either by way of nothing changing because the applicant has not given instruction or the court will end it because of the same. Waste of court time and public money.

And yes get your solicitor to make sure there is a variation of the current CAO to bar particlar future applications, they cant request to bar all applications but there will be some caveats in it

Thanks @soupyspoon - my solicitor has said that she’s concerned that I could be open to criticism from the court/judge if I don’t contact the court to let them know what’s happening. To your knowledge, is this true or do my solicitors just want my money (I’ve had a few months without having to pay any legal fees because nothing has been happening with the case)?

I have no problem at all with letting things continue the way they are - the current CAO is exactly what I wanted when I was the Applicant the first time around a few years ago. It’s unlikely that my ex will resume the case and if he does, then so be it. I don’t want to be the one to contact the court and start things up again.

Can you apply for costs?

I would check what they mean by this. Your job is to give instruction to your solicitors about your own case. Its not your job or your solicitors job to chivvy up the applicants advocates.

You could instruct your solicitor to ask for a hearing to strike out the application or set final hearing dates to end the process and those hearing dates need to be fairly soon, but it depends where you are in the process anyway, has the court given more time to the applicant for example or is there just deadlines that have been missed and no final hearing listed at all, no case management hearings listed?

Your solicitors should be flagging to the court already that the applicant has not complied with direction, have they done this?

I’d hope it would not cost thousands to finish this process. You are the respondent: I’d just respond to him/his solicitor/court.
Looks like he’s realised he’s got no chance with his application and given up. I’d just let it progress through the system; I’d not be actively engaging in hurrying the process, it’ll cost you money and you’ll end up with the exact same outcome…just with a bigger bill.

You have my sympathies with having a pet dick head. Mine has finally given up. Hang in there.

I imagine your solicitor wants to demonstrate that you have engaged and are doing everything as expected. I would advise you to do this too - you never know what kind of spin he could come back with as to why the case didn’t progress. This way protects you and also probably safeguards against future applications/nonsense from him. Short term pain, long term gain. Pay out a few more hundred now in th hope that it will prevent paying out thousands if he spins the courts some bullshit about why deadlines were missed and to try to continue matters. Hideously expensive and stressful for you, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet in the hope of more stability down the line with the kids. Well done for getting as far as you have with it. I’m delighted to hear the professionals see him as clearly as you do, that makes all the difference.

Tens of thousands to vary a CAO?
How long has this been going on for?

Huh?
Why is it your responsibility to let the court know what's happening? Have you complied with all directions? Are you just waiting for a final hearing date? You can contact the court yourself and chase the date, you don't need to pay your solicitor to do it, and you don't need to spend thousands on the final hearing either. You won't be stirring anything up by chasing for a court date and the process will only end by final hearing or by the applicant applying to withdraw and the court agreeing which isn't even a given.

Yes and no, respondents can say to the court that the applicant does not appear to be complying or actively engaging in the application any more and the court can make a decision to strike it out

However, courts (judges we are talking about here) do not like making decisions! They hate it, so they will go back and forth to the advocates trying to get them to bring a decision to the court that the court just ratifies. I make this point on a lot of the legal threads where someone will say 'the court said this or this is in the order' Most orders are the result of the parties agreeing and the court just stamp it

However, will his solicitors be in agreement to say they dont have instruction from their client, hes gone off the radar that sort of thing, thats why her solicitors need to flag that the applicant has not complied and bring it back to court to say, 'we're done here'.

Thanks everyone - with regards to my side doing everything we can to progress the case, my solicitor contacted my ex’s solicitor several times in the autumn and we got no response. I think we can use that to say that we’ve tried. My final position statement for the future final hearing was filed with the court promptly by the deadline, the Cafcass section 7 report was filed with the court too.

With regards to the high costs, this includes barrister fees - we’ve had 3 hearings so far and I’ve paid for barristers on top of the legal fees. I also had to pay thousands to contribute for the payment of an external expert. Don’t want to go into too many details to avoid outing myself but the future final hearing will involve a pre-hearing plus the actual 2 day final hearing with a high court judge (there’s an international element). The barrister fees alone will easily cost over £10,000 if these take place ☹️. All for a completely pointless application by my ex to vary the CAO ☹️.

it sounds like my solicitors are trying to push forwards with the final hearing. I just want it closed but from your responses, I appreciate that it won’t be as simple as that. My other option is just to leave it as it is and hopefully avoid criticism(!)

I've applied for costs for previous wasted hearings in the current proceedings and I’ve applied in his previous nonsense court application. Last time my cost application was rejected by the judge so I’m not holding out any hope of getting money back this time - especially as he’s not currently working.

No hearing has been listed by the court (despite this being directed in the order from our previous hearing). I think we’ve slipped through the net. But it should be my ex’s responsibility to chase this, not mine. I never wanted these proceedings on the first place!

Looks like you’ve done everything you needed to do to comply with the directions.
Presumably it will also cost him £10k if the hearing goes ahead…hence his reluctance to engage.
I'd let him bear the costs of communicating with the court to sort it out. It’s his application, let him get on with it.

It won't cost him a penny if he doesn't attend or doesn't pay legal representation which seems what's likely to happen.

@ShawnaMacallister exactly. He knows he’s got no chance of a successful outcome so he’s given up. He should withdraw his application but he probably doesn’t want to wound his pride.

Exactly! Although, a tiny part of me worries that the hurt pride might spark him into continuing on with his application… he’s that idiotic 😩

Not sure that turning up at a final hearing having ignored all directions will reflect well on his ego - but I've seen many abusive/dickhead dads think they can get their way in court despite failing to meet the bare minimum and being very shocked when they find out the judge won't do what they want!