Sign up with GoogleI have been summoned to the children's court for "Care and contact" of my five year old daughter by her dad. I am not sure what to expect or if I need a lawyer for this. So any advice will be appreciated.
Before I am named a bitter ex, let me just say that am actually one of those rare nicest exes.
here is a background.....
My daughter has been living with me since the breakup 4 years ago. The dad has been in and out of her life as he pleases; he mostly shows up on her birthday month which is in august, so It wasn't much of a shock when I got a call last month from his lawyers. What pisses me off is that he can afford to hire lawyers to trace me and summon me to court but he cannot afford to maintain his daughter. Last time we had visitation arrangements without involving lawyers or the court, he ended up assaulting me and taking my phone for two days and harassing my contacts. To stop the assaults escalating into something big, I applied for a protection order and it was granted with warrant of arrest in case he contravenes any of the conditions stated on the order. That was two years ago.
Most of our contact has been through his mom, our daughter visits the paternal grandparents on school holidays; so if he really wants to see her, he can always arrange with his mom or call me. But he chose to hire lawyers to call me at my work place and drag me to court. I have never called him or even bothered to ask for financial help from him. (The only time I make contact with him is when I am texting him to inform him when the child is sick) I do everything from medical bills to extra mural activities for our daughter. With the exception of school fees which is partially paid by the grandparents. (They have volunteered to pay half her fees (very noble of them I must say). So that’s a short version of what I am facing.
Anyway has any of you been to the children’s court? What can I expect? On the summon forms they mentioned that I can hire a representative if I want to. But I am not sure if that is necessary since I have proof that I have never denied him access to his daughter. What should I look out for? Can I somaar raise the maintenance issue?
Before I am named a bitter ex, let me just say that am actually one of those rare nicest exes.
here is a background.....My daughter has been living with me since the breakup 4 years ago. The dad has been in and out of her life as he pleases; he mostly shows up on her birthday month which is in august, so It wasn't much of a shock when I got a call last month from his lawyers. What pisses me off is that he can afford to hire lawyers to trace me and summon me to court but he cannot afford to maintain his daughter. Last time we had visitation arrangements without involving lawyers or the court, he ended up assaulting me and taking my phone for two days and harassing my contacts. To stop the assaults escalating into something big, I applied for a protection order and it was granted with warrant of arrest in case he contravenes any of the conditions stated on the order. That was two years ago.
Most of our contact has been through his mom, our daughter visits the paternal grandparents on school holidays; so if he really wants to see her, he can always arrange with his mom or call me. But he chose to hire lawyers to call me at my work place and drag me to court. I have never called him or even bothered to ask for financial help from him. (The only time I make contact with him is when I am texting him to inform him when the child is sick) I do everything from medical bills to extra mural activities for our daughter. With the exception of school fees which is partially paid by the grandparents. (They have volunteered to pay half her fees (very noble of them I must say). So that’s a short version of what I am facing.
Anyway has any of you been to the children’s court? What can I expect? On the summon forms they mentioned that I can hire a representative if I want to. But I am not sure if that is necessary since I have proof that I have never denied him access to his daughter. What should I look out for? Can I somaar raise the maintenance issue?
