How long does a court application take to get to court?

[birky]

Xp still hasn't put in his application for access to court. Does anyone know how long the whole process can take?

depends - my ex's case lasted for 2 years and was finished that quickly because he dropped the case because he was losing!

I think the first date was a good 3 months after his lawyer applied

Why is he putting in an application for contact? I assume he's not happy with contact as it currently is? What is the current arrangement?

It all depends on the application and how urgent it is. For example if he thought you were going to remove the child from the country he could probably get am emergency court hearing tomorrow. Or if he had booked a holiday and you were refusing to allow the children to go he could get that heard more quickly with a specfic issue application.

For contact though, generally the first hearing will be a few weeks, and the process to the finally hearing (with CAFCASS reports and interium hearings and mediation) all depends on how easily you come to an agreement. The court will try and get you to come to an agreement rather than forcing an order upon you whenever possible. You are looking at probably around 12 months plus though from that first hearing to the final hearing, with a few interium hearings inbetween. And again it all depends on what the issues surrounding contact are and how reasonable you both are at coming to a compromise.

Gilly

He isn't having any contact due to welfare concerns - domestic violence, anger problem, last time she was there she wasn't fed properly

Have you suggested he could go on an anger management course? That might help him and allay some of your concerns.

I don't know your situation, but in my experience DV doesn't get contact stopped in court. It is usually argued that the DV is as a result of the relationship breakdown and is now in the past and you should both be looking forward. In fact my neighbour's ex even got custody of their children despite the fact he used to regularly beat her up in front of her children. He got this because she obstructed contact and refused to allow him to see the children! He won over the CAFCASS officer as he was the one offering to facilitate contact between the children and the mother and she refused point blank to allow him any contact. The judge rule in dad's favour...

Also what makes you think she didn't get fed properly? I assume you weren't there to witness it? I only ask because my last bf's ex accused him of the same because his daughter was always hungry when she got home. This was a 2 year old and after a 2 hour drive. Of course she wanted something to eat by then. Ex also complained the baby food she provided came back unused and wasn't happy with his explanation that he had given his daughter real food rather than a cold jar of baby mush.

If you are worried for your child's welfare then restricting contact to a safe environment such as a contact centre is a better way forward, and a court is likely to order this as a starting place. You have to look at what you would need to have happen before you are willing to have some contact re-established, such as the anger management course i mentioned above. If you can do all this via mediation and agreement rather than court you're likely to get a better result for your child and less anger and resentment all round.

Gilly