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Letter Before Action?

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DannyK

Well-known member
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Hello Dads,

I pretty much have my ducks in a row for my application to 'Vary a Child Arrangements Order'.

But have had some last minute input from a solicitor (free half hour) who suggested that I write a 'letter before action' to my Ex, suggesting the increase in overnights (Ex will never agree as it will affect her CMS) - rather than just going straight to a court application, which could be frowned upon.

This 'letter before action' would lay out what I want and make clear that if no response is forthcoming (she usually just ignores messages), that legal action could follow.

I already had the MIAM and asked the mediator to give me the certificate to proceed to court as my Ex and I tried mediation last time (in Sep 2022) and she immediately reneged on the agreement made in mediation and hired a solicitor instead.

This solicitor (that I just had the free consult with) seems 'on the level' as they felt I'd managed the case as an LIP (using a DAB barrister as and when needed) just fine so far and so probably didn't need a solicitor..

So what is the consensus on the DWK forum?

Is going straight to court without sending my Ex a 'letter before action' (explaining that I want overnights increased) going to make me look bad to the judge/s?

Does anyone have experience of Ex's dirty tricks when a 'letter before action' has been sent?

Am worried that as soon as she suspects a Court application is coming, she'll go on the offensive and pre-empt with the usual false allegations, Social Services involvement, etc, etc, she has claimed in the past.
 
A letter will give her a heads up as to what's coming next, giving her the jump to get her false accusations in place before you proceed.

I wouldn't bother as all your doing in stringing it out a few more weeks she will ignore anyway.
 
Allegations can come at any time though, I wouldn't see submitting an application to vary as a way of mitigating those allegations!
 
I wouldn't bother either because of the circumstances - you have very good reason to apply to vary and a letter before action doesn't relate to that. It's not just about schedules. And yes it would give her warning. I'm sure the solicitor meant well but then the solicitor didn't go through the hell of false allegations to social services recently.
 
I'd just send the application in. Plenty of time for ex to agree when it gets to court. Even if she said ok yes I agree to what you want - she still doesn't have to do anything! You need the order varying. It's fairly standard solicitor speak to do a letter before action. If it was an enforcement then yes it's good to do one. To give them chance to follow the order. But you're applying to vary the order.
 
Jumper85 said:
Allegations can come at any time though, I wouldn't see submitting an application to vary as a way of mitigating those allegations!
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He's got evidence to back up dismissed allegations which is why he's applying to vary because of what happened (partly). Don't think she'd be taken seriously if she made any more right now after those were dismissed well and truly.
 
I would look over correspondence to find justification for believing informal steps would be fruitless. If she has already shown unwillingness to accommodate change, or if getting her to accept the current order has been a struggle, what use would a letter before action be?

Also, as soon as your application is served, you can offer a consent order as means of bypassing contested proceedings. My ex's solicitors sent offers to resolve by consent at every juncture. They never provided a draft order when I asked. But, they had correspondence that looked reasonable to pop in the bundle.
 
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