Hi All,
I have tried trawling through lots of other posts and searches but as every situation is different I hope people don’t mind responding to my questions which have probably been asked 100’s of times before!
I have been separated from my ex for nearly 4 years and have a daughter who is nearly 5. Contact has always been informally agreed and in general has been one day at the weekend with an evening in the week. This seemed reasonable when the little one was tiny etc but there was always an understanding that it would progress to overnight stays and holidays when she grew older.
Well older she is and I have since been told that overnight stays are not going to happen so I applied for
mediation which she has refused. I have received the FM1 form and filled out the C100 form which seemed quite straight forward. I have also come to the realisation that a contact order was always inevitable so am feeling pleased that this should all come to an end soon enough (it’s probably missed placed optimism but you need hope)!
Ideally I want what seems to be “standard” and that is alternate weekends, alternate xmas’s and birthdays plus half of the school holidays. Is it reasonable to ask for an overnight stay in the week too? Her school is not far from my house and I can easily drop her off.
I am planning on self-representing as I hope this is all fairly straight forward. We have absolutely no abuse or drug problems etc and I don’t see that I’m asking for anything unreasonable. Am I likely to get torn apart in court? I am a confident, articulate and educated person but may be like a rabbit in the headlights if some nasty solicitor see’s a weakness! Am I jeopardising access if I self-represent?
I will keep the questions at that as this is where I am at the moment. I certainly foresee a load more issues if a contact order is put in place as my ex has already said that she will not stand by it! Is it worth mentioning that in court? I have the text messages!
I have kept the C100 brief. Any comments on what I have put on the form?:
“We have had informal arrangements for contact since separating with an understanding that contact would be increased with overnight stays as ****** grew up. Requests for overnight visits have always been refused so I requested
mediation to come to a formal arrangement and this has also been refused.
I would like the court to put in place a contact order which granted overnight visits at weekends and a share of school holidays which would allow me to plan activities and holidays in order to have a normal relationship with my daughter which isn’t restricted to 10 hours in duration.
The respondent gives very little reasoning to refusing or working towards overnight stays or refusing
mediation.”
As always, great resource and thanks in advance to anyone who responds, I REALLY do appreciate it.
7d