[Solved] Ex has breached the contact order what should be m

Hi again

I'll ask CCLC to drop in and help with this, and if yoji is around, I think he has a fair bit of knowledge in the procedures, so hang in there.

Hi dad-i-dad,

If this is the first occurrence, i would say that a Court may question your bringing this back to Court after just one instance. Wrong in my opinion. However its worth knowing that picking your battles is the main thing to do now.

If over the next say 2months it happens again then you will need to complete a C78 form to have a Warning Notice attached. This will mean a hearing which, although you wouldn't need to attend, it goes without saying that you should. The cost to raise this form is £45.00.

Also don't forget to make a note in your diary of this and the reasons she has specified along with the details of when she contacted the centre.

This is the first failure to turn up with my little boy, but she did the same trick before the contact order was in place with the interim contact orders at the begining of this in 2010 and 2011 this is why i asked the question.

Hi dad-i-dad,

No problem 🙂 should this happen again you can include in your C78 application and subsequent hearing that this is not the first time this has happened and highlight specifically the instances previously.

I can of course appreciate the difficulty of the situation, but second guessing the Courts you will need a stronger position than just the single occasion (relating to this order of course).

Dear Dad-i-d,

As there is a contact order in place and it is a legally binding order the mother should be complying with this order.

The order has not been in place for very long so it is advisable to try and negotiate with the mother as much as you can. If this is not possible and she continues to breach the order you can make an application for enforcement.

There should be a warning notice attached to the contact order, if this is attached you can apply on a form C79 for enforcement of the contact order. You would need to fill in the form and take it to the court where the order was granted along with an application fee. Retain a copy of the form for yourself and take the original to the court. Once you have filed the application form at the court they will process this and send you information through with a court date and how to serve the mother with notice of the application.

The court may not consider your letter so a formal application will be required as outlined above. It is your decision if you file the application now o wait until the next contact date to see if she breaches the order again.

If you have any further questions please contact us via our webchat facility. The link to our webchat is http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/index.php?page=web_chat.

Yours sincerely,

Coram Children’s Legal Centre

Well....She broke it again!

she saying that my son does not want to attend contact (he's only 4 1/2) and she's not forcing him to!
despite the court ordered her to encourage contact she claims she has but as he doesn't want to she's not forcing him!

there is a review hearing around 14th May to see how things have been working out.......i've only had 2 out of 4 contacts so far.......
i spoke with CAFCASS the other day, a polite email came back saying that as there are no safeguarding issues or invlovement by them anymore all this needs to be addressed by the courts again.

So i know what i have to do.....but do i wait the 5-6weeks til court or waste another £200 now......God this is so frustrating!

Hi dad-i-dad,

The cost of the C78 is only £45.00. I would raise this as if she's missed 2/4 thats 50% of all contact being missed.

You should file the C78 as soon as possible. Don't wait until May. The fact is that Contact is and has already been granted (its in an Order) and she isn't keeping to it.

Make sure that once its completed that it is hand delivered to the Courts. This speeds up processing time by 1day.

Yoji,

I have checked through the Contact order and there is a Warning about breaching the order on the last page in bold type. Should this mean the application for warning attachment is not required as the Court manager has explained to me? which is why they sent the Enforcement order application (fee £200) throught to me?

Regards,
dad-i-d

Hi dad-i-dad,

Yes if this is the case you will need to complete a C79 to have it enforced.

If you are on a low income and have high outgoings you may qualify for a remission of fees, just so you are aware this means you can pay between £0 and £200.

It's always worth completing the EX160A form detailing all of your outgoings to the penny. This again only if you are low income and high outgoings.

Hope this helps 🙂

Thanks Yoji.

You've been a big help

Cheers

What a result!

not supposed to be back in court for review until the 17th May, i spoke with the Court yesterday afternoon and the Judge has agreed to bring the review forward to 24th April :woohoo:
can't believe it....they are ordering her to attend next week and if not there will be penalties attached regardless!!
all it took was a phone call explaining i'd not seen my son for a month now and won't until May which is directly against the Contact Order.

Karma is slow but its coming around to bite the (expletive!!!!!!) 🙂

oh wow - now that's some result.

Would like to add my thanks to yoji for his help on this 🙂

UPDATE: 24.04.2012

Need some more info Yoji / Guys,

Review back at court today went as I’d thought, despite her breaking the Contact order 3 times, she has been told by the Judge (in no uncertain terms) that he won’t stand for it anymore.
She has promised him that she will drag my little boy kicking n screaming if need be but then it’s the contact centres problem if he won’t come in to see me!
Needless to say the Judge has over ruled her and said that she must do all she can to promote me in his mind and better encourage him.

The Judge has told me that if she fails to make him available to contact following the Judge’s directions today that I can then apply for (£200) and will get an enforcement order made in my favour that she must obey.
That was not quite what I was hoping for, it’s like they’ve given her a slap on the wrist n told not to do it again….to which she say no sir I won’t, I will do as you say this time! [censored]?? I thought the last time with a warning attachment to the order was the last chance saloon?!

Something that has else in all this is she is insisting on calling my little boy by yet another surname claiming it is my 4yr old son wanting it not her! (yeh right o!)
As soon as I left her (Dec 2009) and she realised I wasn’t ever coming back (mid 2010) she changed his surname to her surname, I have refused to allow her to officially change it, and continue to call my son by his full birth name….she doesn’t like it and since she married her new fella in (Dec 2011) she has now said he is to be known as her new married surname….again claiming that my 4yr old son wants the same name as his mum! Well I bought this back up at court and have been told I need to apply for a specific details order to address his surname issue.
She also kicked off about this and saying that by me continuing to call my son by his birth name and bringing it up in front of him each time I see him its upsetting him and undermining her authority over him and his trust in her!

Question: What is this and will I assume it’s going to cost me yet more money to apply for? What are the chances of me winning and getting her to keep my son’s birth name? or am I just throwing yet more money down the drain?

Cheers so far guys.

Hi dad-i-dad,

To be fair, you should be really pleased. Remember, she's now on her final warning... the next step is hefty costs.

I would seriously commend the Judge on this one 🙂 he's done you a massive favour.

In relation to your Surname change... its a common one again, you need to take the following steps:

- Write to your ex-wife and explain that you are aware of your Son being known by her new married name and that you do not consent to this (i can send an exemplar letter if you like). Your letter needs to state a a few particulars around:
• "[CHILD] needs to be known as [CHILDS FULL NAME] and not [HER NAME FOR HIM]".
• "Should at any point in the future should our Sons name be known as something else, or he be referred to as something other than [CHILDS FULL NAME] then i will take further Legal action"
• (See next point) "I have also sent a letter and discussed this matter with [VENUE]"
• "I trust that we can both agree that our Son being named as [CHILDS FULL NAME] is in his best interests"

- Next you need to ascertain as to whether his pre-school/school/nursery has him as his known by name. You will need to call his childcare provider to see if your Son has a known by name there. If so, you will need to speak to the Manager. Have her made aware that she now needs to have your Son known by his legal name and that you are sending a letter to state your objection to him being known as anything other than this. The letter needs to state that you wish for a reply to be made within 14days confirming their agreement to your "demands"...

*Note: The Nursery/Childcare Provider may refuse, it is important at this point to state that you are aware of your legal rights already, and that they needs to seek particulars from a Solicitor* You need to make them aware that a letter will be sent to confirm your position on this matter. If possible hand deliver this letter to the Manager

Lastly, if your ex-wife refuses (which seems likely given her apparent position so far) you will need to complete a C100 and specify on Page 1 that the Order you are seeking is a Prohibited Steps Order. I can guide you along the specifics to this at a later point if it comes to this.

You are not throwing your money down the drain. A childs name is an important part of his or her identity. Your ex-wife may not be recognising the dangers of this, and while it may seem exciting or give a sense of belonging... i'd argue profoundly a significant percentage of cases, this is the start of an attempt to erase an unwanted parent to be in the childs life

If you need any specifics/help, feel free to message and myself and im sure others can give some pointers 🙂

Thanks for the reply Yoji, but alas i've already tried that with the ex about the name change and she's refusing saying it his right and he wishes to be called same surname as her.....i doubt that and i know that in the last 2yrs my litle boy who is now 4,1/2 wouldn't understand and its his mother who is imparting her will on him not his choice!

Looks like the the C100 is the next step, the Judge did say i needed to apply to court for the name to be discussed and order made but he didn't say what the form was i needed. C100 it is then.

Cheers.

i will take you up on the example letter for sending in to the School etc... if you could inbox me Yoji, although i can write letters when it comes to legal points i certainly apreciate the help.

Hi dad-i-dad,

Indeed, i too believe that its Mum who is influencing his decision.

You mention it costs you £200.00. Have you ever tried for a remission of fee's under the 3rd type fee remissions (basically a measure of your income vs outgoings?).

If you could PM me your email address i'll do my best to have this letter over to you tonight, as i am aware time is of the essence with this sort of thing 🙂

Cheers

I agree that it has to be his mum - yoji, are you aware if the court has the power (and is likely) to make d-i-d's ex re-imburse him the cost of the application - it's unusual, normally for a family court to award costs against the other parent, but it's gone beyond sorting out the technical details - she's now costing d-i-d- money because she is in contempt.

Hi actd,

The Court would certainly have the authority to make a judgement that the parent pay costs. However, in practice... unless there is a serious breach and as a result has given rise to the Applicant having excessive costs, a Judge would be quite unlikely to follow through with this. Especially considering the main (Legal Aid funded) Barristers argument being that "imposing this fine would cause the Mother a severe hardship, which in turn will affect the Child of this case".

^ The perfect response: "Set a £5 weekly repayment amount".

I certainly agree, its very unusual. And the technical details don't overly matter when a comment such as the above is [always] dropped in by the Defence.

That's the problem with any financial penalty for breaches - it always causes a hardship on the children and the PWC knows that a judge is going to be reluctant to impose it 🙁

Being the bitter and twisted father that my ex would have everyone to believe i am.....wouldn't the £270/month i pay in Maintenance towards my 4,1/2yr old boy not be more than enough to not affect him?

My argument in this would be....well if she can't afford the expense then i'll look after our son! that would be perfect for me as then i'd get to see my little one all the time.

I know that'd never happen but hey....it's an argumental point isnt it? lol