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Section 7 report says for child to live with mother and spend time with father please help
- Thread starter lightinthetunnel
- Start date
Someone posted case law on here of a hostile family allowed to have parrallel parenting and equal shared care. Bare in mind of S7 recommend against it then it's an uphill battle and luck of the judge. If you have magistrates then not much chance at all. Cafcass barely change their opinion even if you prove them wrong is another issue. It's like they feel the need to be stubborn and 'right' almost like a hostile ex
literally whoever has majority contact at the time of c100 being filled usually has lived with order and usually becomes primary carer unless safeguarding issues or distanceIn my sons Cafcass s.7 it was stated the only risk to the child was high conflict caused by the mother. Cafcass recommended shared care with set overnights of 5 out of 14, progressing to 5050 by the time child is 4 in a years time. Mother disagreed at the directions hearing so now it’s set for a 2 day final hearing, cross examination of both parents and Cafcass. Hopefully, the magistrates will go with what Cafcass recommended even after cross examination.Someone posted case law on here of a hostile family allowed to have parrallel parenting and equal shared care. Bear in mind of S7 recommend against it then it's an uphill battle and luck of the judge. If you have magistrates then not much chance at all. Cafcass barely change their opinion even if you prove them wrong is another issue. It's like they feel the need to be stubborn and 'right' almost like a hostile ex
Interim agreed was 4 nights out of 14.
Why does mother disagree? I'm guessing CMS or control. You're in a strong position. Id recommend keep referring to cafcass position as experts of the court and show no hostility. Keep a good connection with cafcass and magistrates will highly likely follow their recommendation. It is wild how hard we have to fight for 50/50 and not even 51/49 or more contact. Due to cafcass, mother and the system my daughter will grow up in bad Vs outstanding schooling, living in an area of heightened crime and an unstable environment. I hope things go well you've done amazing to get into this position
The mother disagrees because in her words he’s her son and belongs with her and his half brother. The dad, my son, believes it’s also due to CMS, because she involved them and as soon as they said she would lose money for every night he spends with dad, she stopped him seeing him at all. She wants 24hrs once a week to continue, thankfully it’s increased to 4 in 14 nights. So fingers crossed for final hearing.
My son is worried about the cross examination because we have no idea the sort of questions they ask.
I wouldn't worry too much about cross examination. Id recommend do searches on possible questions online. Be truthful, avoid hostility and evidence the reasons why cafcass recommended 50/50 and evidence against mother's claims. Magistrates have a legal advisor so the legal advisor will write the court order. Id recommend push for equal day to day care in addition to equal shared care written in the order the CMS can end
Thank you for this. We have 6 months to prepare the statement for final hearing and to prepare.
Id recommend avoiding legal representatives and save your money too if you haven't already. Good luck I hope everything goes well
We’re writing his statement, he will have DAB for final hearing hopefully. She managed to get legal aid solicitors with no evidence of da. He even has the non molestation order against her but she still got legal aid.
Cross examination is primarily on his statement. A solicitor advised me to know my own statement and evidence very well ready for cross examination. Ie read it through a few times. It's why it's so very important to be 100% accurate and truthful in a statement, and things you say backed up by evidence. Anything said without evidence will just be seen as "he said she said". But sometimes you need to explain the odd bit or describe the odd thing (eg child's time with him and things he likes) before you get to an evidence part. Also only attach evidence that is favourable to you. For example if one piece of evidence is a text conversation of a few messages, to show something really bad the ex said, it's only good evidence if his responses were whiter than white. If he has said or reacted in some way that doesn't look favourable to him, then don't use that piece of evidence. You do need to show both parties responses. So if in doubt leave it out.
When explaining something make sure the facts are 100% correct and not vaguely correct. With cross examination, what the other side are trying to prove is that you're lying. So they will try and find something contradictory in the statement and try to show he's lying - hence thorough checking for accuracy and things backed up with evidence. This works the same the other way - if his barrister can prove his ex has lied about something in her statement, or been contradictory - then basically her statement is dismissed as untrue and he "wins the case".
That's basically what it's about at final hearing - it's formal and very legal - prove the other side is lying about something and you win the case. As in the Judge will order what you've asked for most likely (although Cafcass input may affect that as well but in your case Cafcass recommends progression to 50/50 anyway).
So this is why the final statement is so important. I learned most of this from a good solicitor. In my case, I thought mine was 100% accurate, but when my ex read it she immediately sent messages accusing me of lying about something. Solicitor said not to worry as it was a minor wording thing. I had given a reason for something being late as due to something being cancelled that day. In fact it had been delayed rather than "cancelled" as such - long story - but I should have worded it more accurately. But in the end I wasn't cross examined anyway as agreement was thrashed out at the hearing.
Different situation though as I'd already had an existing good schedule for a long time.
So the other side will go through his statement and evidence trying to find contradictions or things that aren't 100% true - and hopefully they won't find anything!
The other thing they do with cross examination is try to push you to make you get angry. So he needs to be aware of that. Because if you get angry they then say - look he's aggressive. So being prepared is the main thing:
1) Be prepared to know your own statement and evidence well - read it through a few times to familiarise yourself with what you said.
2) Be prepared to stay calm at all times. If you feel pushed hard then it's perfectly acceptable to pause, take a breath or say "Can you repeat that please" to give time to get your head together or stay calm. But do not react or get angry or say "that's a lie!" etc. You can say no I don't agree with that as it's not true.
Having said that they can technically ask you anything during cross examination - but mainly it's focused on your statement and evidence. Either way - just be prepared, as above.
The ex will also have the same thing during cross examination. Often an ex's final statement is nasty, full of mud slinging and allegations without any evidence - because they don't have any! Which is in your favour. Courts don't like seeing parents mud slinging at final hearing. So hers will be frowned on in that case.
When statements are exchanged - expect a nuclear reaction. Once my ex saw mine she was desperately wanting to submit more evidence - my solicitor actually agreed to it because she said ex's evidence made her look worse than me.
This reads well for you. Although it's been said/written so many times, my S7 followed a similar path. I stayed on the positive about the mother, focused on the importance of both parents to our child and let the mother spout her vitriol which I can only presume happened because Cafcass opposed her demands and recommended 50/50. This approach to the S7 meeting cannot be understated!
In the interim I believe the court is looking to make sure that he can be a good parent.
Six months is quite a stretch. Plenty of time for the mother to run out of steam although it'll be wise to always expect some mischief.
Did you get 50/50 in the end of yours or are you still going through court?
I am 7/7 in the interim, granted at the last hearing following the S7. The next hearing could be the last. There's an addendum due in from cafcass including the icfa feedback.
That’s excellent for interim. The magistrates for my sons case were reluctant to make any decisions as it was only a directions hearing, they would only accept interim on what the ex would offer even with the cafcass report recommending 5/14.
Fingers crossed for your next hearing.