Hi All, my name is Lee,
I am actually acting on behalf of a good friend. He has been attending the Family Court for 2 years 9 months regarding Contact with his 4 year old daughter. He has attended every hearing diligently but missed one of 9th July as he did not receive notification from his solicitor so simply did not know there was a hearing to attend, his Solicitor telephoned him 5 mins before the hearing which was too late.
Rather than simply setting a new date for a hearing due to the mitigating circumstances the District Judge dismissed the case completely and my friend has now lost his Legal Aid and any route via the courts for contact with his daughter. This is quite unbelievable when you consider he has been fighting this for nearly 3 years, attending every hearing, misses one and its dismissed!
I subsequently sent a letter on my friends behalf to the District Judge explaining the circumstances asking to reconsider and set a new date for a hearing. We received a response stating "there is nothing he can do"; again this is unbelievable!
It is a great concern that this District Judge made this ruling. It was the first time this particular Judge was involved in the case as the same Judge had been chairing all the previous hearings so was well aware of the history etc. The District Judge made this ruling with no knowledge of the case at all. if he did he would know that the mother had missed numerous hearings only for them to be adjourned and a new date set! There was also an instance where the mother accused the father of drug use, the Judge subsequently requested both parents be tested, ironically the father passed but the mother failed!!
We just don't know where to turn next? And if there is any formal route to appeal? Interestingly the letter from the Solicitor informing my friend of the District Judges decision does not detail the basis of the Judges decision? Doesn't this need to be defined?
So we are desperate for any input or advise this forum can offer us?
Many thanks in advance.
Hi Lee
Diabolical admin seems to lead to a lot of tricky situations unfortunately.
Firstly I would be raising a complaint against the solicitor for not informing your friend of the hearing.
Secondly, as your friend is now without representation he should be able to telephone Coram Children's Legal Centre's helpline for advice. It could also be worth approaching the CAB or phoning another solicitor for advice as most offer free 30 minute consultations. It might also be worth him contacting your local MP for advice as any complaint or query against the court would have to go through them so that they can approach the Parliamentary Ombudsmen on his behalf.
I'm sorry I can't offer more detailed advice but that's where I would start......Hopefully other members may offer other ideas.
Good luck to your friend 🙂
Hi,
Thank you so much for your assistance it is greatly appreciated. It gives us a "next step" so its most useful.
Thanks again,
Lee
Write to the court manager and copy the original judges in, ask how to appeal this dismissal with the reasoning and making note of the hearings your ex missed that were adjourned.
As already said make a formal complaint against the solicitor for not informing you early enough, if they claim to have sent a letter out ask for proof of posting i'd also do the same for the courts.
you may not get anywhere but you've at least tried. failing that the other option seems to be re-apply and go it alone with the help of CORAM and the forum here.
Had similar experience. We had court date in 3rd june but ex partner decided 2 days before she had minor hospital proceedure produced sick note etc and told court she was not going. I reluctantly agreed.
However judge still sat in our absence and closed the case. We wrote to the courts about this but because the judge was part time we had to wait for him to come back, when he did recently he has re opened the case and we are now waiting for another date but been told the court system is very busy at the moment.
I want to go for costs as my ex should have known and told the courts earlier when they set the date in June
Total farce to me !
...it seems that the woman can just not turn up and this is made allowances for....as actd says the only way around this I'd to turn up come [censored] or high water.
Any developments here Nunn?
Hi All, many thanks for all your input we are currently in the process of writing the letters to Court Manager & Solicitor.
Will update with the outcome.
Thanks again.