Men accessing legal aid via Womens aid

[Inliverpool1]

I kinda know all the answers here in my own mind I guess i'm just sanity checking.
Man I was seeing for a few weeks was denied access to his child following the birth. Was never in a relationship with the mother but she did send a few nasty texts, you aren't seeing the baby, someone else is raising him etc. She has made up allegations apparently about him, made access difficult.
He is now taking her back to court, not to increase access etc but to force these allegations to be addressed and to "punish her" for her actions - one judge did tell her if she kept withholding access he would consider changing residency - but lets face it we all know that's just to kick her up the arse it's not actually going to happen. He wants legal aid. She's got legal aid due to the allegations of threatening behaviour - never proven.
So he needs a doctor to say he's been the victim of domestic abuse, ie she's caused him harm by withholding access, making allegations and going through court.

I can be quite black and white and harsh at times so my questions is I guess. Is this a thing ? Seems absolutely mental to me

I'm pretty sure you need more than just allegations to get legal aid. You need to have reported to the police.

How do you know she made up the allegations? Because he said so?

If he's going back to court to punish her he's heading for trouble.

She's made the reports and there was no action taken. I dunno I do know of people that have made stuff up to get legal aid. It muddy's the waters.

In no way defending him BTW I guess I just wanted to organise my own thoughts

But he's getting a letter from his doctor, not Women's Aid?

I'm not sure what your point is.

There are several hurdles to jump when applying for legal aid, and the LAA will refuse an application wherever they can IME. It sounds like a mess of a situation, but the Court is going to be concerned with the child and the child arrangements, and won't tolerate being a referee between two warring and idiotic parents.

So the doctor's letter is to prove this domestic abuse in order to access Legal aid via Women's Aid.
I guess two ;points a) I thought women's aid was for women, not to be used as a stick to beat women with further. I cannot believe this domestic abuse allegation from him is even being humoured.

b). Again am surprised the court is prepared to drag a woman in front of them who has allegedly been assaulted to listen to this shit.

I guess C is confirm I was right to run a mile.

Legal Aid needs absolute PROOF of domestic abuse. You need to have been assigned a Specialist Officer with the Police @Inliverpool1

No, she hasn’t got it based on just allegations, she will have rock solid proof, either from the police or medical professionals.

So yeah. He’s an abusive asshole.

Doctors can not prove domestic abuse in anyway. Doctors only act on what the patients tell them. Proves nothing. The only thing Doctors can provide evidence of is medical state of health.

Also, Women's Aid don't provide Legal Aid - Legal aid do! It's accessed via the NCDV.

One other thing, you can actually contact Legal Aid and tip them off re: fraudulent claims

So if we believe him that she’s lied here, made up allegations to get legal aid and taken steps to ensure he has no contact with his child then that’s going to have caused him hurt / harm.

If we accept that EA is also a form of domestic abuse then surely he should be able to access legal aid? In those circumstances it’s not beating her with a stick (or at least it’s not doing more to her than she’s done to him).

Otherwise what redress does he have? Is he, if innocent, supposed to stand back and let her make allegations (that the police can’t stand up)? He’d be unlikely to get anywhere with a defamation case so what does he do? Clearly at least one judge took the view that she was making things up to obstruct access.

I don’t like that he’s apparently pursuing this purely for revenge; hopefully there’s at least a part of him that wants to be involved in his child’s life.

BlackAudi - my HV provided evidence for me, as did my GP.

There’s a whole host of evidence that can be used, not just police reports. My ex was never violent, he was abusive in other ways.

@BlackAudi A doctor can provide a letter in support of an application for legal aid. It's on the list of acceptable evidence;

www.gov.uk/legal-aid/domestic-abuse-or-violence

There are various ways in which evidence in support can be provided. You don't have to have a "specialist officer".

You're right that Women's Aid don't provide legal aid - it's the Legal Aid Agency, not NCDV.

A doctor can 'support' the application by way of proving illness/injuries relating to DV but cannot PROVE DV/DA alone.

Also, I said LA can be accessed via NCDV - meaning the Solictors they hire on your behalf. I know this as I've done it!

Ultimately though, unless it's just an injunction you're applying for, an application for Legal Aid via the DA gateway for a CAO needs absolute proof via a specialist officer. This is genuine fact in the particular county where I live. It may vary elsewhere in the UK

My husband is currently embroiled in a similar situation as this one. He was the police officer assigned to the male complaining of DA. There was no evidence of this, his partner disclosed years of abuse from him. The case was NFA’d. 2 1/2 years later he’s gone after legal aid, been refused (because the police report was NFA) and so he’s put in a complaint against my husband alleging various things. We are currently awaiting the results of the investigation against my husband. When it’s a police officer you don’t need ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ just ‘likely probability’. He could lose his job. We’re praying the investigation picks up on the link between the complaint going in so late and following the legal aid refusal. Ironically the case had been reviewed several times by more senior officers anyway, it’s standard in DA cases. It was carried out correctly. The investigation is focusing on the other allegations which are garbage!

bunnyfuller - sorry to hear your DH is getting hassle for doing his job properly.

You seem to be suggesting that the man in OP’s post is in a similar position to the complainant in your example.

But the original allegations (the ones that were NFA’d, we assume) in the OP’s instance were made by the woman. And at least one judge involved seems to have believed she was deliberately obstructing contact.

So they’re not really that similar and it doesn’t add any weight to the argument that the guy (in OP’s post) is in the wrong. I think some PPs here are making assumptions that are not really supported by the limited information OP’s shared so far.

Just on your point b, OP, a court will definitely drag a woman into court with an abusive ex regarding contact arrangements but it won't get to court if he's not asking for more contact. If there's an existing CAO he would have to be applying to vary it. He could end up having contact reduced if the court feels he is not thinking of the best interests of the child.

No doubt in my mind you were right to run a mile.

This all depends very much on where in the UK you are. Legal Aid is absolutely still accessible to both men and women with or without a history of domestic violence in Scotland.

,,,,just noticed your username and if that is literal then ignore last post

Just to be clear, judges can give full residence to the other parent and do occasionally give full residence if they believe that a parent is deliberately being alienated from the other parent (and obviously provided there are no concerns about them)

The GP letter is used to access legal aid. It is the solicitor who applies for legal aid, not women’s aid.
As a family solicitor we do this often. It’s more usual to have a police or social services report but a GP letter can work.
Judges absolutely can and do change residence in cases of alienation but it has to be very severe and it’s relatively rare

I’m just surprised women’s aid are having anything to do with it.

WOMENS Aid don't have anything to do with it.

Women’s aid are facilitating the whole thing, gave him the idea, told him what to say to the doctor and have allocated him a support worker.

A close friend of mine has worked for WA for a very long time and I seriously doubt they have done any such thing.

Is that what he’s told you or have you seen some evidence of this?

And you believe him? Why?

I’ve seen the appointment letter they sent through arranging the support worker. He’s not smart enough to think of this himself tbh.

I’m purely looking at this from his ex’s point of view. If this is the path WA is going down it seems a bit misguided