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One last question before I get ready for our second hearing.
My son is 3 years old.
Every solicitor I saw months ago all said the same thing. Am I on the birth certificate, pay maintenance and are there any safeguarding issues with me?
I'm on the birth certificate, pay maintenance (even whilst my ex stopped me seeing my son for 3 months) and there are no safeguarding issue's with myself. My ex confirmed this with Cafcas and in court at our first hearing.
What I'm getting on the Government website is, if I fit the above then I have the same parental rights as the mother (which I have a say in which nursery, school etc) and the right to see my son!
Is this true? And why would my ex now bring in a solicitor and will this affect anything?
I dropped my solicitor when we found out that my ex lied about hsvong a solicitor.
Thank you.
Strictly speaking, you are correct, but practically speaking, your ex is the parent with day to day care, and if you can't come to an agreement about a particular issue, then unless you go to court about every last thing, one of you has to be able to make a decision that the other may not agree with, and that is always going to be the parent with care as they have to deal with the practicalities of any situation. She should discuss schooling etc with you, but if you can't agree, then as long as any decision she makes is reasonable, a court would probably back the decision. Mediation is certainly something that is worth considering, especially if you are being deprived of contact, but if not, then you are looking at going for a contact order through the court,
Did you ask the question about MFs and solicitors working together?
I believe I was of the opinion that they wouldn't but when I came back to amend my reply the post had disappeared, due I think to some hacking activity.
Anyway I spoke to a colleague about this and he is of the opinion that although highly unlikely there isn't any legal reason for it not to be allowed. So I'd like to amend my no answer to encompass this anomaly.
I meant to add to what actd has said, PR does not entitle a non resident parent to contact, neither does paying maintenance. As a non resident parent you should be involved in decisions about schooling and medical issues and should expect to be kept updated on your child's progress, but not much else I'm afraid.
I think a party in a court case can employ the assistance of a solicitor at any time during the case. Having a solicitor lightens the burden of compiling statements and taking care of all the administrative business that's involved, tnus taking a certain amount of pressure off....whether they do a better job is debatable, some members have found they did better on their own! However some find the services of a good solicitor invaluable.
Thanks for the reply and I must say. I got more than I wanted today. I got my son on Tuesday, Friday over night and take him home Saturday evening. Christmas time I get him at 11am boxing day and take him 6pm on the 27th December.
For one year I've been asking for over night stay and she's refused me and all I wanted was to have my son 3 days a week and 1 night every month. So to me, I've got more than I could ask for.
Again, thank you all for your responses.
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