Legal aid and father contact

[SDSDW]

Hi new to this group,, would like some advice please,, my now ex partner,, has had no contact at all with our 4 year old for 2 months,, but now because social are envouled he is asking for contact threw his sister at her house,, there has been domestic abuse on a number of times,, police n social in vouled,, my question is would he b able to get legal aid for solicitors fees n contact for our child when the domestic was from him to me, many thanks

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear SDSDW,

Welcome to the parents' board and thank you for your post.

You say in your post that your ex partner has not had any contact with your 4 year old child for 2 months. You say there has been domestic abuse and that children's services and the police are involved. Your ex partner has now asked for contact through his sister at her house. You would like to know if he would be able to get legal aid for solicitors fees.

Firstly, your ex-partner can request contact with your child through the social worker. The social worker may want to risk-assess him, before they make any recommendations about contact and how it should happen. If the social worker recommends that supervised contact should take place, and you do not think this is in your child's best interests, you can refuse to facilitate this.

In response to this, your ex-partner may make an application to the court for a child arrangements order. This means a judge will look at the matter, and will make a decision about contact based on what they think is in your child's best interests. There is no automatic entitlement to legal aid for private law matters such as these, and the matter would have to be within scope and meet what is known as the means and merits test. For more information about this, take a look here. You may be entitled to legal aid for a private family law dispute if you have been victim of domestic abuse or violence and you can’t afford to pay legal costs.

If you would like more information and advice on a private law matter, you can contact Child Law Advice on 0300 330 5480 or Right of Women on 020 7251 6577.

Best wishes,

Suzie.