Hello again,
Background: 50/50 of an almost-2-year-old with extremely volatile mother. Mostly good relations, but when they sour it is nuclear war. Both parents have a hand in this. I originally applied to the court for a consent order with mutual agreement from the mother. After application was made, she changed position and her solicitor represented it as a one-sided application during the initial hearing.
I got rid of my second solicitor in a year for missing the second hearing, and failing to file my position statement over 85 days despite 23 telephone calls and god knows how many emails. I mention this statistic only in that it was what appeared on the request for permission from the court to have that solicitor come off record.
I turned up at the next hearing self-representing, aware it only involved acknowledging receipt of my position statement and either dismissing the case or directing the mother to submit her statement. The judge directed her to submit her statement and scheduled a 'contest hearing' for the 6th September.
I still do not have a new solicitor in place and I am panicking about it. I can either submit a new request to the court to delay longer in the hopes of getting something sorted out, or I could potentially just turn up myself?
Does anyone know what a contest hearing will involve? Would it be wise for me to attempt to handle it myself? I know the mother has the services of a solicitor and a barrister directed to write her position statement.
My position is unchanged in a year: our ability to self-govern is non-existent and this will eventually be visible and apparent to my son, to whom it will cause severe harm. It took 2 months of absolutely theatrical hell to negotiate the original agreement which has generally been poorly adhered to, and any change (home move, education, ...) is likely to provoke another 2 months of hell. I want transparency and process around any changes to his care - this should be very easy to understand given our history.
I have been told by two solicitors this judge is very unlikely to grant orders for an under-2 especially in the presence of an agreement, he threatened to do so during the initial hearing, then threatened to award costs to the mother during the second (missed) hearing, but he has now directed the mother for a counterposing statement. That this has caused her solicitor to retain a barrister further suggests the judge throwing the case out is not as cut and dry as I have been led to believe. Her statement is due to arrive in 2 days.
Background: 50/50 of an almost-2-year-old with extremely volatile mother. Mostly good relations, but when they sour it is nuclear war. Both parents have a hand in this. I originally applied to the court for a consent order with mutual agreement from the mother. After application was made, she changed position and her solicitor represented it as a one-sided application during the initial hearing.
I got rid of my second solicitor in a year for missing the second hearing, and failing to file my position statement over 85 days despite 23 telephone calls and god knows how many emails. I mention this statistic only in that it was what appeared on the request for permission from the court to have that solicitor come off record.
I turned up at the next hearing self-representing, aware it only involved acknowledging receipt of my position statement and either dismissing the case or directing the mother to submit her statement. The judge directed her to submit her statement and scheduled a 'contest hearing' for the 6th September.
I still do not have a new solicitor in place and I am panicking about it. I can either submit a new request to the court to delay longer in the hopes of getting something sorted out, or I could potentially just turn up myself?
Does anyone know what a contest hearing will involve? Would it be wise for me to attempt to handle it myself? I know the mother has the services of a solicitor and a barrister directed to write her position statement.
My position is unchanged in a year: our ability to self-govern is non-existent and this will eventually be visible and apparent to my son, to whom it will cause severe harm. It took 2 months of absolutely theatrical hell to negotiate the original agreement which has generally been poorly adhered to, and any change (home move, education, ...) is likely to provoke another 2 months of hell. I want transparency and process around any changes to his care - this should be very easy to understand given our history.
I have been told by two solicitors this judge is very unlikely to grant orders for an under-2 especially in the presence of an agreement, he threatened to do so during the initial hearing, then threatened to award costs to the mother during the second (missed) hearing, but he has now directed the mother for a counterposing statement. That this has caused her solicitor to retain a barrister further suggests the judge throwing the case out is not as cut and dry as I have been led to believe. Her statement is due to arrive in 2 days.
