Three year battle may lead me to self rep in court

Hi everyone,

Single dad of four,
Have been in a battle through private law courts for residence of all four children for the past three years, three of our children now live full time with me, however my 3yr old is still living with mum despite the local authority appearing in court and making a recomendation that she should be moved asap to my care and to be with her siblingsm there is a cpp in place due to the concerns for the younger child and mum has supervised visits, i think its because im male that the courts feel reluctant to hand over our 3yr old, after constant change of barristers and critical vital information being missed from the bundles im compelled to self rep myself in court and keep my solicitor in the background, what or have anyone had this type of experiance or advise..

Many thanks in advance

mikey,

I am at a loss as to why the Courts are willing to separate your kids, especially with the reports on mum

I have no experience/knowledge of child law/contact issues but having self repped for years can advise that although stressful, it is not impossible and can even be empowering.

LIPs are not welcomed in the legal cicuits however most are forced to do so for various reasons. If you do take this route there are many Dads here who have walked (crawled even) this path who will be right there with you with support, experiences, information etc. Good luck mate!

E

Hello there.

Your case sounds just awful. Why would the courts want to seperate your children?

I am going through court myself at the moment and I am self rep now. I did hire a solicitor for over a year and ran out of funds. To be honest self repping is the best possible way to do this as it gives you the freedom to actually speak for yourself and your children in court rather than the sol speaking for you and it is straight from the horses mouth. I admit I was terrified at the prospect at first but I found a great McKenzie Friend who comes into court with me. She is an old family friend who works for Citizens Advice. She takes notes of the whole proceedings and nudges me if I forget to mention anything important and finds the papers I need. It has not only saved me a fortune but I am able to put my points across to the judge in my own way which has helped matters enormously. I found my solicitor to miss vital points in the court room.

His solicitor has tried every which way to intimidate me in the court room (and outside it) however the judge jumped on him every time. It is not as daunting as you may think.

I hope this helps you. Although my case is different as I am the Mother and RP my ex-h is fighting to see my daughter against her will. He has been violent and emotionally abusive toward her in the 4.5 years he has had unsupervised contact and I had no idea this was happening until she told me why she did not want to go any more. Not only have Cafcass made a report but the social services and the police child protection unit have made reports too. He has not denied the violence but has suggested my daughter is making the rest up or that I have made her say it. She is just 7 years old. I wanted her to have a relationship with her Dad and sent her there like a lamb to the slaughter for all those years and finally the court is listening to her.

Good luck and I hope this has helped.

Hi Can I ask how you have residence of three of your children and why is your youngest child with mother? On what grounds did local authorities advise child should be removed to your care? It is not uncommon for children to be seperated although sad. db