Prohibitive Steps Order??

far2812

Hi all - I am desperate for some advice. I rang my solicitor this morning asking about PSO - she said she would get back to me and hasnt.

Does anyone know how I can get an urgent PSO to stop my ex taking my little girl out of the country to Peru!

Bossyboots

Your best bet seems to be to go to your local county court, ask them for the forms and help to complete them and also ask them to slot you in before a judge immediately. To be honest, I don't understand why your solicitor has not put this in hand and got an order today. If you are on benefits you would need to take proof of this to the court so that you don't have to pay the fee. From reading your other thread, if you are on benefits you should qualify for legal aid. The fly in the ointment is that you do not know where he lives and unless the police are prepared to help locate him, tracking him down could take several days even for the most able private detective. The police are not obliged to give you details of his location unless ordered by the court.

You do still have parental responsibility and he cannot take your child from the country for more than four weeks without your permission or permission of the court. However, what he can or can't do legally is a far cry from what he can actually achieve. As far as I know Peru does not have reciprocal agreements with the UK so if he scarpers over there, you may be embroiled in a battle to get her back. I would have expected your solicitor to have got you into her office today to get all the paperwork done and an urgent application made. The best the police can do is find out where he lives and either go and check she is there or ask social services in the local area to do so. You either need to make this application yourself, although I am at a loss to work out how you are going to serve it on him without legal aid to meet the costs, unless you can cover them yourself, or get onto your solicitor to pull her finger out. If she can't help you tomorrow and make an application, ring round and find someone who will. You may even find turning up at the court and asking a solicitor there on one of their own cases to help you.

mookiandco

You need to complete a c1 form below:

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=50

and C1a form (as there is a risk of child abduction)

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=74

Complete the forms and attend your local county court just before 10am (when court office opens). The fee is £175. If you are on benefits or low income you may be fee exempt so will need to complete this form:

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForms.do

Explain that you wish to make an ex-parte (without notice) application for a Prohibited Steps Order. You will wait around a bit for a judge to become available. When you go before a judge he may ask a few questions and is likely to make an interim order and list the matter for a further hearing. In relation to service, you must be able to provide the court with an address. If you are in person the court can make a direction that the court will send the order to him although usually it needs to be personally served by a process server/bailiff that would be organised by your solicitor if they had been representing you.

If you dont know where he lives then you really need to get a solicitor on board as they will need to make an application for a search and find order which is done at the high court. I wish you all the best and hope you manage to get this sorted.

far2812

thank you so so much for your advice. I will do exactly that and then let you know how it goes. Many thanks again.

Mrs_P_Pincher

Apply on an ex parte basis, ie without telling him you're doing it - then once an order is made, which it will be if you can prove your case on a balance of probabilities, then the Court can look at how to serve him to get him back before the Court to explain his side of the case.

Good luck. If you have parental responsibility I don't think your ex can take a child out of the jurisdiction without your consent anyway.

Mrs P P

Bossyboots

Mrs_P_Pincher wrote: »

If you have parental responsibility I don't think your ex can take a child out of the jurisdiction without your consent anyway.

Mrs P P

Yes he can. Legally he can take the child out of the jurisdiction for four weeks without permission of anyone else with PR or the Court but of course no-one can make him come back after four weeks if there is no reciprocal agreement in place and in any event it would probably take more than the proposed further four weeks to get an order for return. Once another party with PR learns of plans to remove the child from the jurisdiction, they will have to apply to the court for a PSO to prevent the trip if they do not want it to ahead and even then, they will have to have a pretty convincing argument for a court to refuse permission. In my experience, a number of parents with day to day care of a child simply book and take the trip and face the fall out when they return.

far2812

Thanks everyone for all your advice. The court have today granted a PSO in respect of my baby. The judge also added on a penal clause that if he attempts anything that he is to be arrested and detained straight away. Only problem now is that we have employed a private investigator to track him down as no-one knows his address (apart from his solicitor - who is not legally obliged to provide us with it). Fingers crossed he will find him within the next 48 hours

mspig

Thats good news about you PSO. Without getting you to disclose any information if he has been violent to you or you feel that he will be violent to your daughter, you can get a court order which means that he can't have any contact with you or your child atall. I have one which i have had for 9 years now along with my PSO. Does your order also state that your child cannot be taken out of the country by anyone but yourself?

far2812

The only thing I know is that the reason he has fallen out with his mum is something to do with my daughter - he has been very violent to his family. I dont know if that stands as anything. The order doesnt say anything about anyone else just him - I hadnt thought about that! Oh sugar...........