Taken to court by grandparent - advice please

MissMonkeyMoo

I'm sorry to hear that you are having a worrying time of it at present. I can't really offer any advice as I have no frame of reference for this, but I just wanted to give you my support and let you know that I hope it all works out.

I would say though that with regards to sending a Dr's letter to the judge re why you are not attending court, could they not mark it private and confidential and point out to the judge in the opening paragraph that in the interest of patient confidentiality the contents of the letter are not to be read out to the court? I can't see that a judge has the right to disclose a patients medical status without consent! But having just read the above post I have to agree with GG that she will find out eventually in any case and you may as well dave yourself the heartache now!

Also, a few other people have rightly pointed out that these decisions are always made in the best interest of the child - if there has never been any contact and it would not benefit the child in any way to start contact now I would hope that the court would see sense and allow your parental decision to stand. I am sure it would be very confusing and distressing for your son to have to go a visit people that he doesn't know, and it would cause you distress too which he would then pick up on.

best of luck

Mojisola

spacegirlfive wrote: »

Of course there are two sides to everything, and I can only put mine across, but in answer to why I'm so anxious not to let my son near her, there's a past history of domestic violence, excessive drinking, short temper, a resentful partner - I could go on. I don't want my son exposed to any of those elements. She thinks it is her 'right' to see her grandson and luckily for me, hasn't mentioned in her supporting statements to the court why it would be beneficial to him.

I wouldn't want to have my children exposed to this kind of person, either, so I wish you good luck with your case.

However, there are other cases where grandparents are denied access to their grandchildren for all sorts of other, not so good, reasons so I do think that grandparents should be able to ask the courts for access.

BitterAndTwisted

Anyone can get a case to court against anyone else for any reason they like, just as long as they have the money to pay for it. This does not mean that they have even a fighting chance of getting their own way, or that their legal advisor, if they have one, has told them they have a cat's chance in hell of succeeding

To be honest, I don't think you have anything to fear at all. I can't see any court compelling you to force your children to have contact with her if you have chosen not to have any contact yourself for some time. She might have a more persuasive argument if she had had a regular, long-standing relationship with them and they had consequently formed a very strong bond with her but they haven't.

My own inclination would be to be absolutely candid with the court, not hide your pregnancy and attend. I think it would frustrate the court for you to be absent as your partner cannot be expected to answer on your behalf as this situation is about your relationship with your own mother, and not his with her.

Loanranger

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Anyone can get a case to court against anyone else for any reason they like, just as long as they have the money to pay for it. This does not mean that they have even a fighting chance of getting their own way, or that their legal advisor, if they have one, has told them they have a cat's chance in hell of succeeding

To be honest, I don't think you have anything to fear at all. I can't see any court compelling you to force your children to have contact with her if you have chosen not to have any contact yourself for some time. She might have a more persuasive argument if she had had a regular, long-standing relationship with them and they had consequently formed a very strong bond with her but they haven't.

My own inclination would be to be absolutely candid with the court, not hide your pregnancy and attend. I think it would frustrate the court for you to be absent as your partner cannot be expected to answer on your behalf as this situation is about your relationship with your own mother, and not his with her.

Is this based on actual legal experience?

lilibet1

Dunroamin FYI I'm not stirring in anyway that is a fact, the op mother is a total stranger to the child fact,

lilibet1

Just read your last post, as from what you have said, I would doubt very much that she will get far. She sounds like a pain who is just causing you trouble. You have moved on in your life away from her so it would appear to be for the best to keep it like that IMHO.

StumpyPumpy

Currently Grandparents have no automatic rights of access to their Grandchildren.

This page, though written from the perspective of a Grandparent gives you a lot of useful information:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Lookingafterchildrenifyoudivorceorseparate/Lookingafterchildrenifyourrelationshipends/DG_192848

When considering whether to give you permission to see your grandchild the court will look at:

• the details of your proposals
• your connection with the child
• any risk of disrupting the child’s life
• the wishes and feelings of the child’s parents

SP

spacegirlfive

Thanks everyone, lots of useful advice here - but I am really trying to find out:

Does the judge have a right to reveal my personal medical details in court?
And is there any point in requesting an adjournment because CAFCASS may not have the report completed in time?

Thanks all.

BitterAndTwisted

Loanranger wrote: »

Is this based on actual legal experience?

If I had actual, personal, direct and legal experience of such a situation I probably would have said so. What was your point exactly?

Nicki

I can answer the first question. Yes the judge can reveal the contents of the letter to the other parties and any request by the doctor to keep it confidential will not be binding on the judge. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, I would expect the judge to disclose this information to the other parties as legally they have a right to know why you are not attending and why the hearing may need to be adjourned again which will be putting them to expense which you may be ordered to reimburse them for.

As for Cafcass, I have no direct experience here but other posters have told you that they generally visit at the very last minute and produce their report on the eve of court so if this is common practice it probably isn't grounds for an adjournment either and you'll probably find that even if it was adjourned this time that they probably wouldn't get round to doing the report until just before the adjourned hearing anyway.