weekend only contact

[pinguthepenguin]

I've posted this elsewhere and am hoping for some perspective from a step parents pov.

Ex sent me a sols letter this morn with a court application attached, stating that he is taking me to court for shared residence, and to change the current arrangement from one weekday night ( which he fought me tooth and nail for last year) and a one weekend night to ALL weekend instead, ie fri after school til monday. I am obviously shocked and upset, I don't think this is in DD's interests at all, and to top it all off, the application has a supporting statement which basically says that I am a a very difficult co-parent, a liar and he has concerns about my parenting, that weeklend only contact would resolve.

He pre-empts me in the application by stating he does not want mediation as I have previously broken all other agreements ( I have no idea what he is talking about here). To say I am scared and worried is an understatement. Does anyone here know how this is likely to fare?

So how do I hold my cards? Would we both not be expected to say anything at the first hearing? I guess his court application says a lot about what his grievances are...but when will i know if he has more cards to play?

Neither of you will say anything at the hearing if you both have legal reps - any information the court want is gathered by CAFCASS or other agencies who write reports.
Don't worry, you won't have to defend yourself at all.

My DP said he was a spectator at the whole proceeding - he only spoke to confirm his name!

The important thing is to tell your solicitor everything and trust them to do their job - they will know best how to present it to the court.

Thanks , what kind of info might tey rare carcass etc to gather?

CAFCASS are the Social Services element - so they can be asked to make recommendations about the DCs living/contact arrangements. They will usually talk to both parents and the DC and might talk to other regular adult carers (step parents etc) before writing their report.

Reports can be ordered from specialist medical professionals if physical or mental illness of a parent is an issue.

The actually in court hearing bit is surprisingly quick - if the judges want to deliberate before making a decision about the info they've seen, they will often leave the court - DP waited 45 minutes at his final hearing - he was actually in court for less than 15, then the judges went away and DP was called back in 45 minutes later for the ruling.

That's reassuring, the idea of being grilled and tied up in knots by a solicitor or judge scares me senseless
I guess though, I'll have to listen to some pretty unpleasant things about my parenting, given the court application?

I doubt it - no decent barrister or solicitor will gratuitously badmouth the other parent in front of the Magistrates/Judges; they will present evidence to support their particular case, and it sounds like your ex's solicitor might be coming up short!

Your ex's solicitor will have to undo the damage that your ex has done already by lying - it's a really good way of your solicitor undermining your ex's reputation in court the applicant cannot remember when he moved house or the applicant is misinformed about the distance between his household and that of the respondent.

When is your appt with your solicitor? Hopefully, she'll be able to reassure you

Love you disney That just made me rolf about the distance!

Seeing sol tonight, will update

Just had a thought- if they aren't allowed to just say whatever they want to the court, how come the court application os full of slander? It reads terrible..

The application (C100) itself should be fairly brief and factual - as far as I know, the statement should only be submitted at the request of the Court, I really don't understand why it's been attached to the application at this stage - I've not come across that before, it's certainly not a legal requirement!

There is a section at the end of it which asks the applicant to provide brief reasons why they are making the application, which agreements have been broken and what they want the court to do. The box has been filled by ex ( SM)

If they've used that section to slate you, then I don't think much of his solicitor allowing it to go to court like that - it asks for facts (dates & times) not opinion.

Neither DP or I completed that bit - our solicitors did.