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First court hearing advice.

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RJ25

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Hi all, I finally have the date for the first hearing. It’s been listed as a resolution hearing?

I’m not sure what to expect and what will normally take place during the hearing. I’m representing myself which is a big worry as I don’t have any knowledge of the process.

I know it says that the courts have had a the safeguarding letter from CAFCASS. Do the courts normally stick to and proceed on the recommendations made by CAFCASS they have said section 7 and to consider a section 37 whilst the section 7 report is carried out.

From what I can see they haven’t requested a position statement as of yet do I need one for the first hearing?

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
 
Hi. First dispute resolution hearing. That is usually to try and get the parties to agree (hence dispute resolution), But if your Cafcass letter is recommending a section 7 and possibly section 37 that will probably happen.

Assume your ex has made allegations? Very common and then Cafcass do a section 7 report - check into police records etc and interview you both. Am wondering why the section 37. What did the Cafcass letter say?

Did you ask for an interim order when you applied? That’s a temporary order to see the kids until after section 7 and final hearing. If she’s made allegations it might just be contact centre until next hearing.

What do the court papers ask for? A parenting plan? They don’t usually ask for a position statement at this stage but you should do one anyway - you can do one for every hearing. It’s not a full statement - it’s basically a note to the judge updating him on the position since you applied (ie what’s happened- if anything - and to be able to ask for what you want to happen next - eg mediation or what you want in an interim order.

Hard to say more without knowing the specifics. How long since separated? Do you currently see the kids at all? Have you both made allegations?

That kind of info could help with thinking about what you could put in your position statement.
 
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Sorry, I remember now :) . You posted details before. Yes position statement is important. If it’s a remote hearing, email it to the court as early as possible to make sure it gets to the Judge.
 
So an update on the hearing. It’s due to go ahead next week, it’s going to be via video link. So I sent a position statement by email to the courts for the judge.

If you’re in the same position and need to do the same. You can find the email for the courts your case will be sitting at on the appropriate area’s website.

Send it with you name marked with you case ID. If like mine it was urgent then mark it as so.

I received a reply telling me that it had been received and passed to the judge for the hearing. You’ll need to give a copy to the respondent too.

In the reply I was also told that the respondent hadn’t provided contact details for the case to go ahead. Could I confirm that I had served the application paperwork.

Bit of a panic thinking oh no have I done everything right will the hearing still go ahead. I sent an email to confirm yes it was served but due to circumstances I can’t provide contact details of the respondent as I don’t have them.

Another email from the family courts, they’ve confirmed the case will still go ahead so I’ll be there ready, though it looks like my ex probably won’t be there.

Fingers crossed it goes ok I’ll definitely post after the hearing. I can hopefully give others some insight in to how the whole virtual hearing works and what to expect. 🙂
 
Good luck for Monday and glad you got the position statement there. Maybe your ex will do a no show - or maybe she just wants you to think that and will be there on the day.
 
Thinking about it - I think you should expect your ex to be part of the hearing on Monday, possibly with a solicitor as well. If they've now sent details to the court you wouldn't know about it. It may be they got the number from Cafcass after asking you and sent her the links too. Best to be prepared for that. Although in some ways it would be nice if she didn't "show up"!
 
First hearings are your chance to show how focused you are on the children and the parent that offers a stable environment.

I showed the above and so judge ignored cafcass recommendation of finding of facts.

Don't let your emotions run high, don't feel that you have to respond to any accusations with reflexive attacks. Just remain calm and say that you are saddened by the allegations which you categorically refute.

Good luck.
 
Ash said:
Thinking about it - I think you should expect your ex to be part of the hearing on Monday, possibly with a solicitor as well. If they've now sent details to the court you wouldn't know about it. It may be they got the number from Cafcass after asking you and sent her the links too. Best to be prepared for that. Although in some ways it would be nice if she didn't "show up"!
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I’m not sure if she’ll show but I’m prepared to deal with either situation, I say prepared I’m bricking it but I can’t let that show.

I don’t know what happens if she is a no show. My view is it just shows you’re not thinking about children you’re thinking about yourself.
 
proud_dad said:
First hearings are your chance to show how focused you are on the children and the parent that offers a stable environment.

I showed the above and so judge ignored cafcass recommendation of finding of facts.

Don't let your emotions run high, don't feel that you have to respond to any accusations with reflexive attacks. Just remain calm and say that you are saddened by the allegations which you categorically refute.

Good luck.
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Thank you Proud Dad, I’ll remain child focused and put across that the children are my main priority and concern.

If there’s accusations thrown I’ll stay calm refute them and move on. Once the hearing is over and I’m on my own I can have my what the hell was that moment.
 
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Update on today. So ex didn’t show. She emailed the court 20 minutes before the hearing to say due to conditions in place and no contact allowed she didn’t want to attend.
Also her and her solicitor haven’t had time to prepare for the hearing.

C7 was never returned by her either. Judge said he doesn’t want this to drag on as it’s been a long time since I’ve seen my children.
They’ve scheduled a new hearing and ex needs to provide dates and locations for all incidents that happened. That’s going to be a long list of lies she’ll have to make up.

I then have to respond to them. Both parties must submit a bundle. I’m not sure how I’m going to manage all this and defend myself against it all. The judge said even if police investigations are taken no further I’ll still have to prove it again in the family courts.

The courts a requestIng any information from the police going back 10 years don’t know why there’s no records or anything apart from the allegations she made since we separated. Any costs for the police providing this information will have to be paid for by me. How is any of this fair!?!
 
I was wondering how you were getting on. Firstly - it sounds like a fact finding hearing has been ordered. With you both doing submissions and responding to allegations. This has its pros and cons but means if the Judge dismisses her allegations then she can’t ever claim them again. It’s also your opportunity to provide evidence that they are untrue.

By doing the fact find it is cutting through the need for lots of reports (or are they still doing a section 7?).

Secondly it sounds positive that he has said he doesn’t want things to drag on as you haven’t seen your children for 10 months.

By ordering criminal history for 10 years it saves on lengthy Cafcass investigations into criminal past. Funnily enough it was something I was banging on about recently- that it would save court time wasting if both parents had to submit their criminal record history (as in no criminal record if that is the case). To knock some allegations on the head from the outset.

I don’t expect that would cost much - I sent for my criminal record before a hearing and it didn’t cost anything but there are two types (or used to be) . Local records and the National database records. I think it may have changed to just one application now and the fee should be nominal - a fiver maybe. But I am not 100% sure. I have never asked for the last 10 years - just “any history “. But presumably the same thing!

It does seem unfair that you have to pay for that - I think normally the cost would be shared but your ex didn’t attend!

So she has a solicitor and they did a sneaky thing. I am still surprised as I thought they would be pushing for a section 7 but maybe she was too confident one would be ordered.

This is par for the course for a lot of Dads. Allegations made then fact find. If and when you are cleared at a fact finding hearing it then just progresses as a normal case with a final hearing and an order being made. No reason not to make an order then.

So it’s not all bad. Did the Judge make any comment about your exes non appearance? It sounds to me like she was ignoring the whole thing because she didn’t even return the C7 (and probably hoped it would not be able to go ahead if she didn’t return it).

But the Judge has ignored her claim of no contact allowed and listed another hearing. I bet he wasn’t impressed with your ex telling him what was and wasn’t allowed! Even if you are on bail.

I think it all sounds positive.
 
That Judge will now have a very clear picture that your Ex is refusing any contact at all and acting like she is Judge and Jury.
 
As regards preparing - it probably feels overwhelming right now but others have done it. I haven’t personally had a fact finding hearing but other members have and I’ve read of a few. It’s a Scott schedule of allegations and responses to those. A bit more than that but it’s paperwork at first. A bundle is just a bundle of papers! Basically anything you’re sending into court with a sheet on top setting out a list of documents included. Some documents may need exchanging with your ex or her solicitor before the bundle is ready.

Keep asking on here at each stage. You could get a half hour free legal advice as well if stuck.

Sometimes a fact find can actually become a final hearing as well and it all sorted at that next hearing. The fact the Judgd has asked for bundles suggests that may be a possibility.
 
What the Judge has also done is require your ex to attend a hearing - if she wants to claim allegations! If she doesn’t attend the next one then she can’t really argue her case. So he sounds like he is taking no nonsense.

It will be reassuring to have your criminal record to produce with nada on it! I think only she can apply for hers though. If she doesn’t do it, that counts against her as well.

Main thing is - the Judge didn’t adjourn - he made decisions despite your ex not attending. I think he can see what’s what.
 
What you need to do now is

a). Chill - after a stressful day.
b). Don’t panic
c). Start getting organised. Get a big lever arch folder and start getting together any documentary evidence. Separate it into labelled sections. Eg one for emails or text print outs to and from ex (print everything out to go in the file). One for any other letters or documents (eg GP letter). One for receipts etc that prove your location on certain dates. That kind of thing.

The sooner you start getting prepared and organised the less overwhelming it feels.

With emails/texts you need to go through a lot and decide which could be helpful or evidence. I put those into sections as wrll - some labelled “hostility” some labelled “arrangements “ that kind of thing. And I used highlighter pen on a specific relevant line snd/or wrote annotations/notes at the edge. Primarily for my own benefit but could also be for others to see.

For example you could have one email ftom her that contradicts another one from her and make a note “contradicts email of c date “ on the edge snd highlight the relevant point. This is all building evidence for a final hearing and possibly to refute allegations.

The fact find will be based partly on documents and partly by how the Judge finds you both - if you look and sound reasonable and are calm that helps. If your ex is vitriolic then he won’t be impressed.
 
Thank you for all the information and encouragement. I don’t think the judge was to pleased with my ex and her no show. He was quite keen to get things moving as it’s been so long since I’ve seen my kids.

He was an older man so I suspect he’s seen every dirty trick in the book more than once. The order for criminal history I believe is in relation to anything related to DV there’s nothing, only the calls logged and allegations made after separation.

His exact words were in regards to the next hearing “I will make an order telling your ex she has to attend”
I hope it went in my favour that despite the situation and the fact I have to self rep I actually turned up.

I will be sent the full list of all her allegations and they want dates and whether it was reported and so on. I then can respond to each with my side of events or if I deny them. From what I can tell she’s already forgetting what she said to who. I think she thought just by saying this happened that would be enough for the judge to decide it happened. Don’t think she was banking on the fact she’ll actually have to substantiate each claim to some degree. The bit that made me laugh is she’ll have to then write at the bottom. I believe the facts stated here to be true and sign it knowing she’s lying about everything.

Once this is all done it says this will allow the court to decide if it needs to go to a separate fact finding hearing.

As far as I know they haven’t ordered a section 7 I’m not sure why though as they made reference to the information received from CAFCASS.
 
I don't know how techy you are, but use as much phone location and call history as possible. Also use your cloud photo service, as they organise images nicely according to date and other features. In google photos, I was able to pull out very quickly all photos of my children reading at my home for example.

I am an android google user. I have kept my location services running for the last 10 years. Google basically records my location across time. This came in handy when I was able to present that I was at place X at a certain given time (in Google maps, this is called timeline function).

For every accusation, offer blatant data that shows that absurdity of her accusation.
 
I use iPhone but don’t have tracking on. Wish I had now but can’t do much about that. I think I can get pictures of things I used to do with the kids. It would at least possibly show what kind of relationship I have with the children. One claim was that one of the kids was scared to be alone with me. I actually have pictures of just the two of us out together on a day out.

The current problem I have in regards to being place’s I shouldn’t is my ex has said these things but failed to give a time and date for this.
 
Well now she will have to give those details won't she? When she submits her allegations. And you can look at what she puts and find evidence to the contrary. If she can't give a location or date etc it looks even more fishy.
 
Ash said:
Well now she will have to give those details won't she? When she submits her allegations. And you can look at what she puts and find evidence to the contrary. If she can't give a location or date etc it looks even more fishy.
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To be honest she’s fabricated the whole thing, I’d not want to be the one who now has to give good details on multiple things she made up. She’ll be pulling dates and times out of the air! Hopefully the whole thing will look a bit fishy.
 
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