Postition Statements - Child Court Hearing

Sorry Fiona don;t really understand the relevance of your post to my last post.

Both my ex and I will be attending mediation.If it doesnt work I will ask to have the case re-listed as I believe it is my right to do so.

However should mediation work and we reach an agreement,I would need to have this ratified by a Judge and turned into a court order preferably without having to attend another hearing.
Is that possible?

Otherwise it may be that I'll have to run with any Memoriam of Understanding that we reach in mediation until such a time my ex breaks it and then apply to have the case re-listed stating that she kept breaking the terms of our agreement.

My point was that you said you were the judge thought mediation might work but what the protocol means is that apart from a few exceptional circumstances all parents are expected to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting before a case is heard.

There are few certainties with family law, just probabilities. s1(5) Children Act 1989 states "Where a court is considering whether or not to make one or more orders under this Act with respect to a child, it shall not make the order or any of the orders unless it considers that doing so would be better for the child than making no order at all." That means the courts shouldn't make an order when the issue is resolved by other means. When there has been a previous dispute the court may turn an agreement into an order or a judge might be persuaded to make an order if it can be shown it would be in the interests of children's welfare.

Ok thanks.
I guess all I can do is apply to the courts should we come up with a MOU at mediation and see if they will turn it into an order.If they believe it is right to do so
although it seems from what you are saying they won't.I can only try.

If not then knowing if she breaks the MOU agreement I will write to the courts to have the case relisted,and knowing that she will also have to explain to the magistrates why she is not sticking to the MOU,this may give her the incentive to actually abide by it.

Should it go to a second hearing and my ex opposes to contact as per MOU,she would have to explain I guess why she was happy to agree it in mediation but not in court.

In a way the agreement will actually have some teeth I guess.

joe - sorry to make the issues more confusing but I have to give a different view.

If you and the ex agree through mediation contact arrangements, I think a court would indeed translate this into a contact order.

The no order principle basically says courts should not make orders unless there is a demonstrable benefit to the child. However, you could argue that given the history of conflict, the heightened need to provide stability for the child, the wish to avoid drift or delay should agreements break-down - all of this would be of benfit to the child and demonstates a need for an order. You could add that by giving the agreements legal weight the chances of future conflict between the parents would be diminsished. Indeed, simply saying that the order would give you as a parent peace of mind would be a demonstrable benefit to the child.

Truth is I think the court would be pleased to have an order to rubber stamp by consent and would not query it in any depth.

Sorry if that's a bit muddled, basically am saying get the contact order if you think it's needed.

Zonked you have so hit the nail on the head.I also assumed the same as you regards the courts reaction.

My main reason for starting the whole court process is to safeguard the contact I have with my son and vice versa.It was constantly being messed with by my ex for any number of reasons.This caused huge conflict,nasty emails/texts/phone calls,accusations of harassment towards me,plus a number of physical assaults on me,letters from social services,many calls to the police mainly from her trying to cause problems etc etc.
This also caused me anxiety and stress and which importantly sometimes had a negative affect on my bahaviour/moods when I had my son. You can't just switch off from troubles as soon as you pick up your child.

The big argument for giving me not just a contact order but one which is adequate is that I have no doubt alot of the trouble would cease. However there just wasnt the oppotunity in court for me to put this across.

Also an agreement in mediation which isnt turned into a court order is largely useless although as explained before it may have some teeth but not much of a bite.
Basically I have little doubt my ex would break any agreement.

Do you think I would need to request a second hearing just to get the MOU turned into an order or can I just send in the paperwork and do it that way?I have been told I can so was pinning my hopes on being able to.

You would definately need a further court hearing to get a contact order.

I think you'd write to the clerk stating that mediation had been completed and request a further directions hearing. At which time you would say (hopefully) that the differences had been narrowed and you were in a position to agree an order by consent.

That may not be the end of the story. You might ask that the case is listed for a further review hearing - you obviousely hope the order will run smoothly but if there are any hiccups it would be benefitial for both parties to have a chance to address this. Also, the contact your seeking now might be different from what you would want in, say, six months time? If contact goes smoothly perhaps the next step would be holiday arrangemnts, or agreeing extended contact during the xmas/easter breaks?

I don't know if your represented, but if your not, getting a McKenzie Friend to help with the prep work would be a good idea.

Well that would be one quick hearing.About 5 mins by my estimation.
Present the MOU,state why I think it would be in my sons best interest to legalise it then ask for a review in 6 months and thats it.