court - Full custody

honeyD

Hi, was wondering if anyone has been to court for custody of their children and can tell me how it works, what happens etc.
I have a family friend who is about to go in the next month to get full custody of the kids since the partner took off with someone else. Not sure if ex-partner will show up or not but may just to be a pain even though they have only bothered to see the kids twice in 6 months and missed birthdays/christmas.
If anyone has any advice or experiences and would like to share, please do.
Thanks

Found_true_love

honeyD wrote: »

Hi, was wondering if anyone has been to court for custody of their children and can tell me how it works, what happens etc.
I have a family friend who is about to go in the next month to get full custody of the kids since the partner took off with someone else. Not sure if ex-partner will show up or not but may just to be a pain even though they have only bothered to see the kids twice in 6 months and missed birthdays/christmas.
If anyone has any advice or experiences and would like to share, please do.
Thanks

First off its not custody these days its called residence, does she have a solicitor they should know what to do lol:rotfl:

Anyone with parental responsibility can make an application for anything to do with the child. So in this case PWC (mother) would apply via a c100 for residence stating why she should be given residence.

If contact is not indispute then she need not apply for a contact order. This can come later.

She then pays an application fee £175

If ex does not turn up at court then she will get residence by default or if he agrees to her having residence then it will be a consent agreement.

If he contests then he will have to say why and argue his point in court.

Hope this helps

honeyD

Hi, thanks for that.
There is a solicitor yes.
I was just looking for any info that could be helpful.

speedster

a residence application would fail me thinks as it would be hard to prove it's in the childs best interests.

i'd seek advice before ploughing straight in with a RO application, it may be a case of letting him apply for a contact order (if he can be bothered, that is)

Found_true_love

speedster wrote: »

a residence application would fail me thinks as it would be hard to prove it's in the childs best interests.

i'd seek advice before ploughing straight in with a RO application, it may be a case of letting him apply for a contact order (if he can be bothered, that is)

Ah but if a solicitor thinks she has a case then......... as we dont know the details

And if ex doesn't put up a fight then they get it by default or he may consent just because it is easier to than fight in court.....

speedster

Found_true_love wrote: »

Ah but if a solicitor thinks she has a case then......... as we dont know the details

And if ex doesn't put up a fight then they get it by default or he may consent just because it is easier to than fight in court.....

aye true, but a lot of judges seem to be quite hesitant in granting RO's unless there's a real need to as they are quite concrete.

they wont grant one by default as they need to hear the respondents side.

jacklink

makes no odds anyway really, as pwc usually is pwc and nrp fights to see kids, money making scheme for the law section thats all.

honeyD

Ok, sorry since I didnt state it before - PWC is male.
NRP took off with a new guy and has only visited twice in 6 months like I said in the first post. She did not want all of the kids. She doesnt contact them very often by phone either as far as I know and wouldnt speak to them at all at first and only visited the first time after being gone 2 and a half months. We arent sure if NRP will turn up and fight since she hasnt done anything so far.
PWC just wants to make sure NRP cant just come in and take the kids one day. He doesnt have PR on one of the children as they werent married at the time that child was born and the rules changed after that, so this worries him.
Would a court be willing to give contact orders or whatever it is to an NRP who hasnt made any effort so far to keep in contact?
NRP also doesnt pay any maintenance though she works but PWC doesnt want to go down the CSA road at the minute.

Found_true_love

honeyD wrote: »

Ok, sorry since I didnt state it before - PWC is male.
NRP took off with a new guy and has only visited twice in 6 months like I said in the first post. She did not want all of the kids. She doesnt contact them very often by phone either as far as I know and wouldnt speak to them at all at first and only visited the first time after being gone 2 and a half months. We arent sure if NRP will turn up and fight since she hasnt done anything so far.
PWC just wants to make sure NRP cant just come in and take the kids one day. He doesnt have PR on one of the children as they werent married at the time that child was born and the rules changed after that, so this worries him.
Would a court be willing to give contact orders or whatever it is to an NRP who hasnt made any effort so far to keep in contact?
NRP also doesnt pay any maintenance though she works but PWC doesnt want to go down the CSA road at the minute.

Ok if one child was born before 2003 (when the rules regarding parental responsibility were changed) then he (thank you for the correction and its important to know that because the courts operate differently for men than women) need to first apply for PR.

His sol should have advised him of this.

Once PR has been obtained then an application for residency is vital, if he doesn't get it then believe it or not she can swan back and insist on picking up the kids at ANYTIME she wishes and will (almost automatically) get to be the PWC if she wants!!!!!!! (I have seen it happen)

So the advice changes from now on.........

Get the application in get the court date, in some directions letters there is a warning stating "failure to attend may mean an order will be made in your absence"

So get it in tell us what the sol advises

honeyD

Hi, thanks for that. I know there is a court date already set.

daska

If the court date is already set then he must have already made an application. the solicitor has likely applied for PR and residency. If residency is granted then PR is automatic, but for belt and braces the PR should be specifically requested. IMHO a likely outcome from the initial hearing, if mum either contests the application or doesn't turn up, might well be a 'prohibited steps' order stipulating that the NRP is not allowed to remove the children from the PWC. He might get a PR order immediately or he might have to wait 2 years for it like DH did even though DSD's mum wasn't even allowed unsupervised contact for most of that time!

I would suggest that your friend formally request return of any of the kids possessions/ passports and the like if mum took these with her.

The best bit of advice you can give you friend is to be SEEN to be actively considering the children's welfare and actively promoting contact.