new CAO application 10 months after the order

FH on CAO was held in March 2015. My ex has applied for a new order (for shared residency) last week. Last time the court ruled the child lives with the mother and has contact with the father (split hols, every other weekend, and three hrs after school Mon-Wed-Fri).
The first appointment has been fixed for mid-February.
I am representing myself.
I work full time and receive no maintenance from the father, i.e. the child’s welfare depends on me. He is unemployed, lives off his mother’s money, in her house, uses her car.

Why did the court accept his application? Busy as the courts are, is it normal his application has been accepted and the case opened? Or the court cannot refuse to accept an application?

Can the judge make a judgement at First Appt?

It’s been barely a year, the child has gradually settled into the new arrangement and it works well. I suffered from severe nervous breakdown last year, and incurred enormous debts, as it was my first experience in court proceedings.

Is there any way to stop ex to file applications against me and ruining my child’s life? Or do I have to accept the fact that I have to go to court every year now?

Thank you.

I can understand that this new application must have come as a bit of a shock to you, esp given that you have not long finished proceedings regarding your daughter.

Unless your ex has a s91(14) Order against him to prevent him making further applications, then he is free to make applications as and when he feels is necessary.

Presumably, the fact he has made an application suggests that he feels that the current arrangements are not the best ones for your daughter and that she would benefit from a shared care arrangement - you would need to argue that the current arrangements are suitable and meet your daughter''s needs and any major changes would not be in her best interests. You could propose an increase in the time she has with her father - perhaps an overnight stay during the week? If he''s not working then there should be no issues with him being able to get her to school on time.

Thank you.
After the new arrangements were introduced last year, my child was referred to a therapy by school, she took the change really badly. She is settling now - my ex is getting at me (I left him, he is a bully and abuser) through the child, as clearly knows which buttons to push.
How can I apply for S91(14)? can I ask the court to stop him from disturbing my life and the child.
Also - I was ordered to get to the court 1 hr before the hearing for discussions. Ex is a bully and abuser, I fear to face him and do not want any discussions. Shall I write to the court and tell that? thank you

With the application you should have received an ackowledgment form to fill in and send back. One fothe questions asks whether you intend to apply for an oder, so you can, if you wish, state there that you wish to apply for a s91 order.

In relation to the aearly attendance, this is standard. Typically there will be a duty Cafcass officer and you may be able to speak with them. You cannot be forced to sit down with your ex.

You can contact the court and ask for a separate waiting area.

You will get a call from Cafcass ahead of the first apppintment and can mention to them that the relationship was abusive and that you are fearful of him.

just to add- the court accepted his application becasue eveyone has the right to acccess to justicve, and to bar someone from applying to court is a very serious step and not one to be taken lightly. IO think it is unlikely that making an application a year after the last order would be sen as inappropriate to the extent that it would be justifiable to bar him from making future applications. While in your particualr case it may well be that it is not appropriate to chage the current arrangmetns, there are many caes where it is reasonable to move contact on after a year

Me again. Can the judge at the first appointment rule that no order should be made on the father''s application? Or, if neither of us agrees again, will it proceed to the final hearing anyway? thank you.

Hi Besselsleigh,

I''m so so sorry to hear of your case, I am going through something similar - "final" CAO made after a year''s contested proceedings, and then my ex just applied again much less than a year later.

According to a recent paper for the president of the family courts issued by "Families need Fathers" available here (www.thecustodyminefield.com/download/FNF...2015-Final-Proof.pdf), and if I interpret their statements correctly, 59% of enforcement (/new CAO) applications are made within a year of final order, and in some areas this is more than 90%. This is a truly shameful indictment of the family courts and how ineffectual they are, and I''m sorry TBagbuss, I don''t agree that it is appropriate to revert to further contested proceedings after such a short period of time - given how long these proceedings take each time, it just means people are permanently in court. If the decision has been made, and not appealed, it should stand for years *unless it can be demonstrated that there is a very significant change in circumstances*. Here''s the paraphrased quote from my judge who allowed the fresh application having heard the previous final hearing: "Yeah, why not, things change, let''s have another look at it". That throwaway comment after we''d spent every penny to both our names and a year contesting matters! Was that the benefit of judicial continuity we got with that gem, eh?! If the judges are not capable of making judgements that stand the test of time with this caveat, they shouldn''t be judges. Here endeth the rant!

So back to your case, there is nothing stopping your ex re-applying again and again, and it will be encouraged by the family court judges and lawyers. You can go via s91 and this isn''t that uncommon but all it does is introduce a couple of small extra hurdles in reapplying, it won''t stop it until they are classified as a vexatious litigant and they would have to be properly loopy for you to manage that.

I''m not a lawyer but I don''t think the judge will throw things out at first appointment - he / she will probably just offload the problem to CAFCASS for a s7 report. Which you''ve probably already had in the last set of proceedings. Cafcass will make the same recommendation as last time. Then final hearing again. So sorry, this is exactly what I am going through and it''s a disgrace... My heart goes out to you, and best of luck.