[Solved] Second court hearing

If i were you i would write a strong letter to the court...explain the situation and explain that the judge recomendation of no need for CAFCASS reports shows no need for reduced contact (IMO) so why can your ex dictate something different to what he Judge ordered.

ask for an emergency hearing as it would be 3 months until you see your kids again because the ex is refusing to increase contact and actually contact is being prevented due to the lack of contact centre.

have a look around the locallity to see if there are any other contact centres or voluntary contacts groups who could help you reinstate contact with you kids.
if there are right this in to the letter to court.

are you aloud to ask for an emergency court hearing

Interesting point you made, if the judge didn't want CAFCASS reports done, then why should he restrict contact. I know the first hearing is just a direction hearing and he had to follow CAFCASS as they said contact centre 2 hours every 2 weeks, but if doesn't want the full report done then when he can make a direction he must see no problems with me so should give reasonable contact

My own fight has been going quite a while now….but when I had to start representing myself I just emailed the courts and explained I had seen my little one just 3 times since the last hearing through my ex breaking the contact order and that it had been a month of no contact …. I give her three chances to return to contact the “3 strike rule” and then contact court again!
So yes…you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Hi PS

Were you asked to file statements?

I agree with dad-I-d suggestions, and if the Judge didn't want full reports why restrict contact in the first place. Was it stipulated in the Order that contact be increased? If so, and she is not increasing it, then yes she is in breach of the Order and you can make an Application to the Court.

I wasn't asked to file statements it was the first hearing. The judge said, case adjourned to allow implementation of contact centre and further negiotation. Also stated:
Such further or other contact as the parties may from time to time agree
I asked for more contact she disagreed.
The judge said no need for CAFCASS reports other than the schedule 2. So if no need for CAFCASS report then I think there should be no reason why I can't have more access.
Go back to court in October just hope you thinks that as well.

...No need for further reports so no safeguarding issues then! I agree with you and hopefully when you return in October the court will see fit to move contact on from supervised and increase it.

Does the judge want you both to negotiate further contact? If so I think you should think about the level of contact you would like to work towards and put it down on paper as a schedule and send a copy to the other party to start negotiation.

Yeah - the judge expects further negotiation but when I suggested, she said no and my boy apparently happy, but then she would say that.
I think I'm relying on the Judge to increase - just hope he does.

out of curiosity PS....did your ex put that in witing (text / email / letter) about no to increasing contact? if so print it off and get it sent to the Judge for the next hearing!
she will have to explain to the judge why she's refusing to allow an increase in contact.

Good idea, I'm going to send her a letter and say we are supposed to be negotiating, this is what I want and what can you offer. She will probably say [censored] all

Ok so the "Such further or other contact as the parties may from time to time agree" is pretty general but also means to increase the contact, and the Judge wanted you two to sort it out. So all you can do is keep attempting to get more contact and if it does not happen, tell the Judge at the next hearing and propose a schedule of contact that he can set in an Order.

Yes anything that you can provide to the court to prove that she is unwilling to negotiate on increasing contact will be helpful. That's why it's better to communicate by txt, email or letter, because her responses are there in black and white.

Thanks everyone for your input. If I e-mail or text she responds with go through your solicitor, so I stopped, also was worried she might use that as harrassment. So my solicitor asked and we got the 10min phone call. I'm gonna ask her to send another letter requesting contact on a saturday starting at the end of the month. Least then why I go back to court looks as though I have been trying.

I think your solicitor should be requesting through her solicitor to begin negotiations for increased contact. Her solicitor should then respond back with her answer to that. Its up to your solicitor to remind them that the judge has instructed that there be some negotiation before the next hearing. It might also help to point out that as no further reports were requested by the judge then there are no safeguarding concerns and therefore no reason why contact cant be moved on.

NJ is right, as you’ve a solicitor use them.

Get pushing your solicitor…they’re there to work for you and whether you’re paying them or they’re getting paid via Legal Aid they still have a duty to work hard for you.

They will realise what is going on but they need to be pushed, the longer the delay in increasing contact the more influence the ex has over them….

The judge doesn't need reports etc...on you so get them to push that side to try and speed things along.

Well my solicitor sent another letter requesting if I could see my boy this weekend and guess what she said no. I complained to CAFCASS, that didn't get very far, they suggest I seek legal advice or complain to ombudsman via MP. So have a meeting setup for the end of October with him.
Just stuck as I can't see how I can move this forward, apart from waiting for the next court case, at which point I'm sure she is going to say my boy is happier now and so forth. Can the Judge make a decision to increase my contact or will he ask for statements ? I'm going to submit all my CAFCASS/MP complaint letters to the court before we go so hopefully he reads them.

Courts won’t be impressed with MP’s sticking their noses in…..my ex tried that one….as we live in different MP constituencies I got my MP to speak to her MP to basically tell him to keep his nose out of this unless he’s willing to see me and get the whole story of which I have documented to prove the ex is a deceptive game player.

I personally would be writing to the courts telling them how long its been since you saw your kids last and is there anything they can do to minimize the delay and bring the next hearing forward based on your ex’s refusal to allow contact to take place despite no need for reports etc…!

I agree with Dad-I-d .....when this sort of situation has arisen for others a letter to the judge has been sufficient for them to act on it. When a judge makes an order or say how something should be and that get ignored they do not like it one bit. You might find as the case is still on going that the MP won't go near it anyway.

A letter addressed to the judge that dealt with it telling him that negotiation as per his directions is being actively refused should work. If you've got a solicitors letter from her side to that effect include a copy of it as evidence this happening.

I agree with Dad I D too and in fact if your solicitor helped you with the application, he should be writing the letter to the Court to bring it forward.