Hello,
I have fact finding hearing next month.
Can anyone tell me what to expect. I'm representing myself as I can't afford lawyer.
I want to ask can i take evidences like pictures and video on mobile phone ?
Will I get decision on same day. I have two day hearing.
What else i can expect ?
Please advise.
Thank you
A frustrated father
Do you have a copy of the allegations being made against you? once you have that you will be given a chance to respond to the allegations where you can provide your evidence.
when i had mine i responded back to the allegations with evidence. in court no finding of facts were made. you cant be showing stuff on your mobile phone, you will need to produce everything into a document with pictures etc and submit to the courts when asked to do so by a certain deadline.
Fact Finding Hearing
A Fact Finding Hearing is a type of court hearing that considers the evidence surrounding allegations, and the court will make a decision as to whether alleged incidents did or did not happen. Evidence is heard, which will normally include parties being cross-examined. After having heard the evidence, the judge will decide whether the alleged incidents happened or not.
Most commonly, these allegations concern domestic abuse. Domestic abuse includes neglect, emotional and physical harm and violence.
When making a decision the judge has to consider the allegations made by each side. It is for the person making the allegations to prove that they are true. The Judge will consider on the balance of probabilities whether the allegations are true or not. This means that the judge will consider whether it is more likely than not that the allegations are true.
In preparation for a Fact Finding Hearing the person making the allegations will be asked to send a list of the allegations to the court. The list should be:
- signed and dated
- each incident should be numbered and set out in date order stating the date of the incident and details of what happened and where
- details of any witnesses to the incident and involvement of the police and/or medical services
- the list should contain a statement that it is true.
The person against whom the allegations are made will then be asked to respond to the allegations within a set timeframe. You should respond to each allegation in turn, setting out your account of the incident or stating that the allegation is denied.
You will both be asked to make written statements based on your evidence setting out what you wish to say to the court. You can also have witnesses give evidence with the court’s permission.
In First Hearing then DRA hearing and now fact finding hearing is due but no where court ask me to provide evidence so how can i provide evidence ?
@f4father its basically what bill said above.
what will happen is her or her solicitor will prepare whats called a 'Scott schedule' in this they will present to you before the court hearing all the allegations being made against you. Then you can respond to the allegations with your evidence etc. Everything then gets submitted to court by a deadline. You then have your fact finding trial.
Normally the judge orders the allegations being made up to only 7. You then respond to this. DO you have any ideas what allegations are being made, as you can start gathering and preparing evidence now so majority of hard work is done and in place by you.
For eg in mine one of the many allegations being made was Financial abuse. She said i made her pay for certain white house goods, and the bills etc. To counteract this i showed with proper bank statements, that i paid for all the mortgage and all house utility bills, and that she paid nothing apart from shopping and childrens clothing ( a more than fair trade off in a partnership i say).
I also showed that even though she worked i transferred gifts of money to her from my bank account. This showed there was no financial abuse, in fact it could have been argued she made me pay for everything that was expensive 🙂 The only thing she paid for was the washing machine, fridge and dining table and she claimed abuse. that was her sole contribution.
So sometimes the allegation being made can look far worse then they are, but this is where you have to carefully gather meaningful evidence to counteract it all.
I had other allegations such as verbal abuse, physical abuse (she even went as far as showing her hand in a blurry picture she made to show it being all red where i had grabbed her up supposdley). It all got dismissed.
Thanks for the brief reply. I have no idea what is Scott schedule..but i will search on it ... as the last order judge asked her solicitor to send court bundle and judge ask me to send ONLY questions which i want to cross examine ... that it ......
Well like i said i didn't ask to provide any kind of evidence i will check again the court order but i'm sure it was not asked . on the respond i remember it was written no evidence is require at this stage....
anyway yes i have bank statement i can show .. out of interest even if i don't pay her money 4 years a go.... what it has to do with meeting my child ? if i meet my child offcourse i will buy him food etc etc.... then what this allegation has to do to meet my child today.
secondly advice me .... she put the allegations then after 4 months she went on holiday with me ..... then after 2 months she applied divorce....
will judge consider this ???
my friend said judge will still favor her if she say my child was crying and need outing that why she went with me (the bad guy)...
any point i need to raise ?
im not sure i understood all you said. you dont have to show bank statements, i was just giving you a example of my case not yours.
normally people hire a barrister and they do the cross examining. unless you know what your doing you should look around for a cheap one perhaps and see if you can afford one to represent you. if you can clear the fact finding and no findings are made, it puts you in a good position later to get more contact with your children. they will then look at how far you live from kids, and how disruptive it would be for children to switch between homes. so if no findings are made against you puts you in a better position to get good access.
yes if she went on holiday with you, show proof of it. it can possibly show theres no real issue and she only doing this to furstrate your contact with child now. if your a threat or abusive etc, why did she go away with you on holiday!! have you got photos of her being happy with you on holiday, if so show it 🙂 anything that can help you clear the allegations against you use it at your disposal.
all the allegation she have put are unsubstantiated. even she report police as well police must have tried to find something.
proof she have is she did the call out domestic violence that what she have....
yes i have pictures of her when we were on holiday. .... and video as well but i'm not sure how to present them now ?
i just need to submit questions judge has asked ....
she haven't put any evidence as she dont have... all the allegations she has put cannot be prove without evidence.....
i would just put the pictures into a electronic word document. You will normally have to send it over as a PDF file. Video you cant present but you could mention it in your document that you have video evidence available on request should it be required to view on the day.
ok so can i send now to court ? will they include in the hearing and court bundle ?
ok so can i send now to court ? will they include in the hearing and court bundle ?
that i would say depends on whether you have the full list of allegations being made against you. if she hasnt disclosed them and you dont have scott schedule showing this, you wont be able to respond properly.
i have all the allegation list and i already replied to allegation....like i said nowhere i ve been asked to provide evidence