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I have never used this site before but i am in urgent need of some advice.
I have a 2 and a half yr old boy, Zak, he lives with his mum about 2hrs drive from me. Myself and the mother have never been in a relationship I am the registerd father and am on the birth certificate, however Zaks mum has never let me see my son without her being in the same room, i have not even been allowed to take Zak for a walk to the park on my own! I recently went to family mediation looking for advice, the mum has since refused mediation on grounds that it is too far for her to drive. I recieved a letter from the mediation people saying my case was now closed and there is nothing more they can do!
I have not wanted to get solicitors involved unless absolutly necessary.
Has anyone out there experienced a situation like this or can anyone give me some advice on what to do next.
Any advice would very apprieciated
Cheers
Hi Andy
Thanks for your post and welcome to Dad Talk.
I am going to ask the team at the Childrens Legal centre to look at this post and they will come back with some advice.
Please bear with them it may take a couple of days or so
Regards
Super Mario
Dear Andy156
As you are on your son’s birth certificate this means that you will automatically have parental responsibility for him. Parental responsibility, in every day terms, means an ability to make major decisions on his behalf. This means that your ex-partner should be consulting you when it comes to issues such as which school your son will attend and what religion he will follow. However, parental responsibility does not unfortunately give you an automatic right of contact.
The right of contact belongs to the child and not either of the parents. While the child is too young to decide for themselves what contact they wish to have, it falls to the resident parent to make the decision as to how much contact to allow. Therefore your ex-partner is not acting unlawfully by refusing you contact. However, there is clearly a moral issue with the refusal of contact for no good reason and this will not be looked upon positively if the matter reaches court.
You have taken the first step we would recommend by seeking mediation. However, as you have discovered, your ex-partner does not need to attend if she does not wish. If you qualify for legal aid, now may be a good time to visit a solicitor with a view to getting an agreement in place. It should be noted that a solicitor’s agreement is not legally binding which means that either of you can break it at any time.
If you don’t qualify for legal aid then you can decide whether to instruct a solicitor privately. It is possible for you to apply to the court yourself. This is called acting as a litigant in person. In order to apply to the court you will need to phone or go into your local county court and pick up a C100 form. You should then fill in the form and return this to the court most local to where your son is living. There is an application fee of £175.
A court date will then be listed and you and your ex-partner will both be required to attend. The court will make a decision based on what is in the best interests of your child. There is a strong presumption that contact with a non-resident parent is in the child’s best interests. The only time contact will not be granted will be when the court feels that there is a risk to a child in the non-resident parent’s care.
If you require more information and advise regarding how to apply to court then please do not hesitate to contact the Child Law Advice Line on 08088 020 008. It is also worth visiting the Families Need Father’s website ( www.fnf.org.uk ) which has a comprehensive guide on how to represent yourself in court.
We hope this information is of use to you.
Kind regards
Children’s Legal Centre
Hi!
Just a quick note to say thanks! and i wil let you know how it goes!
Cheers
Andy
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