missed contact

[David Roth]

As a follow up to what Irene has advised, the important thing in making these sort of statements is to separate fact and opinion, and be clear about which is which in the statement. And if you are offering an opinion, explain why you hold that opinion.

All the examples Irene has given above would be statements of fact. If you want to offer an opinion about contact, for example if you wanted to say the child was upset after contact, then you should put that in a separate paragraph, starting 'In my opinion 'X' seemed upset after his contact, because ...', and then explain what it was about his behaviour or words that would lead you to think he was upset.

[tomika]

was in court today. Judge ruled exactly what the child wanted so couldn't be happier.

Looking back to a few years ago when this was brought back to court I have to say that I stressed my self out so much about self representing, and in the end it wasn't as bad as I imagined. I did find the strength to speak up and I gave it my best. I've saved my self thousands of pounds which would have ruined us if we had to pay it out, so if any body is in a similar position remember that your best is all you can give.

We have been lucky to have a good (for a change) Cafcass officer, have stuck to the facts and told the truth the whole time. All of the judges we have sat before, even when we felt they didn't believe us, were always very patient with our limited legal knowledge, and quite honestly after this I think that many cases could proceed without legal representation.

So if your absolutely skint and scared like we were, but worried that it will be to difficult, self representing is worth consideration.

Thanks for all the help and all the best for your own situations. (I will pop in and out to see if I can help anybody)

[Robin D]

That's great news. Well done.

[David Roth]

Well done for self-representing and getting the right result for yourself and the child, tomika.

Judges do generally want to do the right thing by the children they are making these important decisions about, and they will assist litigants in person, to try to make sure that all the evidence and information they might want to present is able to come out in court.They might bet a bit impatient if people seem to be trying to abuse the system, but if people are respectful and willing to take advice the court will often be quite helpful.