Representing myself in court?

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Right so now into my umpteenth solicitor/ barrister etc and NONE OF THEM HAVE GOT IT! Blunders in court, lack of empathy, lack of understanding, too busy to care... My voice is not being heard and neither is the truth. I've got nothing to hide. Should I just scrap them all and try to represent myself?! Can I do this? I have a hearing in January!!

You could do, I have done in the past but I know how I come across in court which is important. What's the case?

It depends on how much preparation you are prepared to do. Ex represented himself, assumed he knew it all, was rude, asked to leave the court room, yelled at my solicitor, argued (or tried to argue) with the judge and did himself no favours at all. He lost residency and ended ip with s fraction of the contact he demanded. I do think that if he'd had a decent solicitor, instead of taking his legal advice from F4J, he might have presented himself in a better light.

He's now reported my solicitor to the law society and is trying to get the whole thing brought back to court

I'm in court again (for the millionth time) in January and I represent myself.

It's not actually as bad or scary as I thought it would be, especially as XP has a solicitor. My judge is really quite nice and gives me a chance to speak etc, he even told XPs solicitor to be quiet because I hadn't finished yet

Thanks everyone! Coffee queen would you please tell me more about how you have managed to do this please? Practical advice etc.

Yes also represent myself in court as I'd really hate somebody else trying to put my views across. At the end of the day, solicitors are doing it for money, I'm doing it because I passionately believe in doing everything I can for my daughter and as her mother feel I'm in the best position to know what is/isn't in her best interests etc...

Where people go wrong (as in the earler post) is when they simply do not have the decorum/objectivity to present facts as facts. Keep business like and honest and I think this is best all round. In my opinion, my ex looks even more pathetic-having brought the case on himself (triggering section 7 too-sol had no idea!) he is even further away from having contact despite the fact I never (since you can't!!) stopped contact....Knowing facts and sticking only to what you know is possible legally makes it simpler than you think.

Good luck.

Russet Bella how did you get all the legal info you needed?

Hi...have only had directions hearing so far and the thing is I know that, bottom line, every parent will have 'right' to contact. In my particular situation I was not happy that he wanted it when he wanted it & seemed to want to maintain control by trying to dictate particular terms (obv don't want to go into what they were as specific to my situation) & prob not relevant to yours.

I think the thing is there are no magic words that lawyers say that you can't!! All you need to state is how what you propose is in the best interests of your child remember he will be doing the same but I presume you are the resident parent and therefore have a better understanding of what that is atm. Unless there are child protection issues then contact is certain BUT it can be managed at a pace you are comfortable with which ONLY meets the needs of your child and doesn't merely fulfill his 'right' to contact. The child's needs are paramount and IMO supercede those of either parent ...especially if one parent wants contact only as it suits them...Does that make sense? So as for where I ger my legal knowledge, I dont but just make sure that I stick to facts and where relevant evidence emails which may show he was being unreasonable or that I always offered contact etc...To be fair I haven't even had to produce any of that yet as at the directions hearing contact was not given to him (for reason mentioned in othe posts and no next hearing till April or something. All moves very slowly once court becomes involved which more than suits me as I feel my daughter will be more ready to be introduced to somebody positively who she will come to know is her father...no biggie! Anyway good luck with your case - every one's situation is different. If her father had been involved from the start obviously my actions would be different to reflect that fact he would be significant to her. I had to act only in what her best interests were then..as she gets older these change and so of course will my decisions around her fathers contact...

That said-women's aid has a link on this I think (just google) or even google representing self blah blah which I m sure I did at some point :0)

Hi Russetbella

So you haven't been studying legal documents like they've been going out of fashion??!!

Good. :-)

Sounds like I should have been representing myself from the beginning!!! Never too late though!

Thanks by the way. V useful info.

Ha ha, no no no!
And no problem, it feels good to demystify it all eh?
Ok all the best...:0)

Russet did you have anyone in the courtroom with you or were you totally alone?

No totally alone and honestly it was fiiiiiine:0) there was a cafcass officer there too. Judge was really nice, his lawyer was invited to make a statement (about 1min no longer) then I was asked if I wanted to say anything so I made a statement -nothing written down though of course you could and I just stated that my little girl was an extremely loved and happily child who enjoyed the stability of home and the routines that we have etc and I very much wanted her to continue in this way while acknowledging that her father should have contact....I garbled on a bit always child focused and finished on the fact that I have never could never will never deny access and said I felt it such a shame that he hadn't even considered mediation before taking the decision to go to court etc.....
Anyway as luck would have it nothing could go any further because of the section 7 so not even contact centre until next hearing.

A parent never has a right to contact. The child has a right to have contact with both parents and immediate family unless it can be shown that it will cause harm and not be in the best interests of the child. A subtle but very important difference.

Good luck with representing yourself. It will be hard work.

Indeed you are correct that contact is the right of the child and subject to its welfare rather than any human right of the individual parent. However, it is very rare that a court refuses a parent no contact at all...agreed a subtle bit very important difference.

I went through the court system fir years with a solicitor then a barrister - both were excellent and did listen to me. Then I ran out of money and calked in the big guns and I represented myself against him, his sol and a barrister and I wiped the floor with them. It helped that he had presented them with a file of lies which was easy to disprove. They also provided me with 2 massive box files fir the cohort room about 10 mins before and I didn't have time to read. When we went in and the judge asked about my legal representation, I explained I couldn't afford it and said that as I had no egalitarian training I apologised in advance if I inadvertently offended anyone by unknowingly not following court procedure. Judge was fab and said she would guide me through it. Ex and his legal team got tripped up in his lies and I was awarded the settlement I and my dc needed - pm if you need any help x

Hello Everyone!

Thanks so much for your replies. The appeal hearing is now next week and I have decided to go ahead with the solicitor & barrister I have at present. I will get a chance to speak at the hearing so in a sense will get to 'represent myself' to some degree. I'm hoping the barrister does a good job! Is there anything I can do to ENSURE this is the case?

Pinot I was very interested in your post. Please let me know if you have any advice! :-)

I mean I can try to see my solicitor as much as poss before the hearing.