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Hi
I was wondering if anyone can give me any advice. For the last year i have been going through the motions at court to gain continued, regular access to my 8yr old daughter. I have had to go to a parenting information programme, meetings with CAFCASS to prove i am capable of looking after my daughter and adequelty protecting her while she is in my care, i have had a cafcass officer come round to my house to check it was suitable (my wife was not happy with this she feels it is perfectly adequete and there should be no question as we have our baby and my two stepdaughters 8 and 11 yr old living here).
In the year that we have been going to court my ex has been ordered to attend a PIP course which she took a year to attend and this time when we went to court her husband was ejected from the court waiting room for threatening myself and my wife.(Because of his behaviour in the court waiting room it has now been ordered that my wife and my ex's husband now have to attend a PIP.) They have told us that they are going to make things as difficult as possible for us to have contact with my daughter and that if we push matters through the courts they will move over 100miles away so i will struggle to see my daughter.
The next court date is in June and is a contested final date, i dont have a solicitor as i cant afford one and i have no idea what to expect. This date is because my ex feels i cannot adequelty protect my daughter while she is in my care for more than one night therefore she wants contact to stay at one night overnight every 3 weeks, i am disputing this and would like more contact and to be able to take her on holiday with my wife and our children.
As this is in court already does anyone know if i would be able to request a shared residency order and if so how do i go about this, i would like to be seen as a good parent to my daughter equally as important as her mother.
Thanks
Hi
You should to speak to the Childrens Legal Centre as this sounds quite complex and you need proper legal guidance.
However, I would have thought that going for shared residency is going to complicate the proceedings and I can't see that you'd gain much by it - I would have said that you would be better concentrating on a satisfactory contact order.
One other point - do you have any evidence that you ex has said that she would move 100 miles away to make it difficult to see your daughter? Normally, it is very difficult to get an order preventing your ex from moving anywhere in the country, but the exception to this is if she is doing so soley to prevent contact or to make it difficult. If there is no evidence, write down what you remember about the conversation anyway, including time and date and context - it may help slightly if it becomes your word against hers regarding, and keep details of all conversations and messages you have with her.
Thanks for your reply.
I have no evidence of what was said to me and my wife other than the court security saw there was an incident occuring and saw that it was not due to me and my wife and therefore ejected my ex and her husband.
Does anyone know if the final hearing goes in my favour or indeed if it doesnt, is there a way to keep the contact order under the courts supervision as i am without a doubt that as soon as the ex knows that she doesnt have to attend court anymore she will stop contact altogether as she has done previously.
I have been in and out of court trying to establish regular contact with my daughter for a long time and each time i have to jump through hoops to prove i have my daughters best interests foremost and each time the ex makes things as awkward as possible for me and never has to prove that she does anything with my daughters best interests in mind even when i have brought up concerns with both cafcass and the courts. Is there a way to get the courts to assess her skills as a the main carer or is it just given that as she is the resident carer it is taken that she provides adequete care?
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