I am seriously shocked that your McKenzie Friend would advise you to submit your own schedule or send information in to the court without having seen the information the court has ordered the mother to provide.
To be honest, I don't think you should actually submit anything, I made the suggestion of responding to her statement as I thought this is what your solicitor had advised you to do.
I would focus on speaking to the court to remind them the deadline has passed and to seek new directions. Ultimately, if she doesn't provide the schedule, you technically cannot reply to what you do not have.
I have seen this many times in court and you will not be told off for missing a deadline. The most likely outcome is that the hearing could be adjourned if the paperwork is not filed by the mother. I know that probably isn't what you want to hear, but believe me, better to delay and court have all the information they need than to go in half prepared and have crucial points missing.
I would also question your McKenzie Friend's credentials / experience and look for a third opinion on this matter if necessary. An experienced MF with even a small amount of legal knowledge would not tell you to submit your own schedule, or push you into submitting something in this scenario, I can assure you of that.
Completely agree with Yodas advice here, unfortunately MFs are unregulated and therefore getting a good one, that understands practice directions and how the procedures are applied, can be a bit of a lottery. It strikes me that if you had full confidence in your MF you wouldn't have come along to the forum to ask for advice on this matter.
Yoda has a depth of experience and is a practicing MF and I wouldn't hesitate to say that the advice Yoda gives is absolutely correct, although I don't have the direct experience that Yoda has, I was confident enough to advise that you shouldn't file a response to something that you haven't had sight of... Yoda makes a very good point, that this would open up the possibility of your ex being able to appeal on the grounds that procedure wasn't followed.
Is this sounding about right? I'm off work on Friday so will get an appointment for a free 30 mins. with someone but in the meantime, is it possible you could advise on a letter format?
By all means tear apart and re-write if possible if you believe you may be able to assist any?
To Whom it May Concern
The filing of a Scott Schedule listing any allegations from the Respondent xxx was due for submission by x November 4p.m. to all parties involved.
To this date, nothing has been received nor any notification of any request for extension. In the absence of any such document, I seek permission from the court to file a statement of case specifying my own concerns relating to xxx to demonstrate the behaviours and contradictory actions and statements that have been submitted to date.
Yours Faithfully,
cccc
I've some experience of the ex and her legal team filing statements/evidence late to court.
i received her statement and evidence some 13days late - mine were supplied on the day in person to both court and her legal team! they obviously then had 10-11 days to make their statement to challenge mine.
i contact the court 5days after it should've been submitted to me and bascially the court did nothing and wouldn't accept my request to disregard their statement or evidence due to it then being 13days late. it was noted at the hearing and they were warned not to do it again....ffs!
i personally would write a letter / email to the court manager and Judge, stating that you've not received the other parties Scott Schedule therefore cannot supply yours, but that you have included a short position statement that outlines the case to date and facts that you need to be addressed in court - e.g. failure to allow contact to take place, refusal to abide by contact order etc...
don't put any evidence in or a long drawn out statement, just a few bullet points of the issues at hand and tell the court / judge that you can provide a detailed position statement and evidence should they wish to see it.
take a copy with you to court unless asked to submit it in advance.
well today is officially when I should be submitting my response, however I've unsurprisingly nothing to respond to. So i'll be writing my mail out to the respective parties. As part of the order, I'm supposed to submit my gp report, so I presume I should still do this today like I was asked to?
yoda - noting what dad-I-d suggested about including a short position statement along with this, is that something you think might be appropriate at this stage? Or instead to focus on it's late, nothing received and leave it at that?
dad-I-d I notice in your signature about this beginning 2010, I hope that is out of date and you are now seeing your children properly and being involved as you should be otherwise if not that's incredibly saddening
Gents, this letter came out to me, yesterday, ended up in my junk mail, thankfully spotted it. Does this help me any?
My daughters guardians solicitor sent a mail/email out to my ex, saying the following:
The judge has made the following orders as a result of your non-compliance with the court
Unless you file a scott schedule (i.e. about your various allegations about the Father) and a witness statement from x and x by 4pm on x, you may not be permitted to rely on the same
The time for (me) to respond has been extended by one week.
The matter remains listed for a Finding of Fact hearing on dates x y z
No messing about there then! Good job you found it.
Were you also tasked with providing a response to the SS and a witnessstatement? If you have and they don't file in time, I would get the statement prepared and in within the extension time, but not your response to the SS obviously. If o have any evidence you can attach to this statement.
If you haven't been asked to file a statement as well, I would do as Dad-I-d says and prepare a brief position statement to take with you, (no attachments) having copies for the other side and your records too.
It looks like the judge has a firm hold on this, so just follow their instructions.
My witness statements stem from her original NMO, I sought these statements ages ago and and they still stand ready and the people are willing to come to court to do so. She may decide not to even allege the things any more because she will know having seen them (accidentally I submitted them without direction from the court, but they are in the bundle) that these are firm and don't leave her a leg to stand on.
That's something i'm unsure of, she alleged countless audacious things in her NMO and position statements, if she opts not to include them on her scott schedule, then all those things (which have contributed to the lengthy delays in arranging contact) I feel should be proven not to be true so that she looks like a completely unreliable witness
The only thing ordered for me to do is file and serve up on myself a GP report, and respond to the SS and file any further witness statements.
On the day i'll take in a prepared position statement outlining the issues
The FOF will determine whether her allegations are fact, if not they will be discounted going forward.
You should send in your GP report and as they're asking for a witness statement from you, this means that you should put what you will be relying on in court into the statement and include a signed statement of truth at the end. You can attach any further evidence you have as well.
If after you've filed the GP report and your own statement, there are further developments, you can also make a very brief position statement to tell the court about it and take it with you to the next hearing.
You haven't mentioned your MF... did you put our concerns and differing advice to him after all? If you wish to discuss that in private you can always send Yoda or I a private medssage.
All the best.