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Hi
I am new to this site but would appreciate the views of others who are or have been in a similar position to myself and are able to offer any advice.
I have had a contact order in place since September 2010 which was running like clockwork until December 2011. My ex-partner started messing around with the contact arrangements and "blamed" our 8 year old daugther for "breaching the order" saying it was her who did not want contact. Contact was intermittent from December 2011 and when I did have contact with my daugther, everything was fine and on most occasions she did not want to go back hom to her mum but I reassured her that I would see her the following week and took her back home. Part of the contact arrangements are that I pick my daugther up from school on Tuesdays. My ex-partner started turning up at school saying our daughter didnt want me to pick her up. She was warned by the school that a contact order was in force and that the child could only leave with me. She took no notice of the school and took our child from school without permission. She was ultimately banned from school grounds and then did not take our child to school for some 2 months until school welfare threatened her.
I issued an enforcement application and the first hearing has taken place. I was made to feel like the bad guy and rather than enforcing the contact order, the Judge has ordered supervised contact which is due to take place shortly. There is another hearing on 4 July and her solicitor has made an application to the court to be heard on this day to "vary" the contact arrangements. However, I have offered to vary them on several occasions and they have not responded. The current contact is that I have my daugther every weekend from Friday to Sunday, although I have not seen her now for about 10 weeks!
They have not mentioned in the application what they want to vary the contact arrangements to and I was after some advice as to whether her solicitor is under a duty to inform me of what they will be asking for in court before the hearing actually goes ahead on 4 July?
Any help gratefully received.
Hi David and welcome to the forum
Can I ask if you are representing yourself or do you have a solicitor representing you?
As you don't have a solicitor I could ask the Coram Children's Legal Centre to pop by and answer you question.
Hi David,
It would be good practice for the solicitor to advise you of the contact arrangements that are being sought but there is no duty to provide you with this information until the hearing.
If you would like further information, please contact us via our website and you will be able to take part in a webchat with one of our advisors.
Coram Children's Legal Centre
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