3 QUICK QUESTIONS ABOUT COURT

[whatnow]

Hi i have three questions i need answers to ASAP please. What is a circuit court, and why is a normal magistrates or family court not being used?

and my second question is why am i being sent to a court out of my area....? the LA dealing with my case has it own family, magistrates, and crown courts, but i am being sent to a different LA area for court and its making me nervous, is this common?

last question is- my solicitor is far away, infact the other end of the country, as i felt there would be less chance of corruption, however now my solicitor has instructed a barrister for the first hearing, is it normal for the barrister to be from the area the court case will be in? i thought they would have been from the same area as the solicitor.

[whatnow]

sorry i have one more question, in court at the first hearing for an ICO, if i prove the social worker has lied in the application for the order, could this stop the court from granting it? sw has written that i need to clean all the significant amount of mould from my walls and furniture...... i knew she had concerns about the damp in my house, she also stated i had no cooker, however 2 days after the application was submitted to the court, i had a surveyor inspect my house....he asked what mould she was talking about as he looked everywhere and could not see any, he did however draw a map of every room and thankfully he could see my cooker and drew this on the map. I now have a copy of the surveyor report, also i have proof the sw lied to the doctor. On top of this i see someone about domestic violence, he had written a very good report, however the social worker wrote in her report for the CP meeting that the update from dv service said there were concerns about this and that, the dv man asked her about this and she said it was from his supervisor, however after asking his supervisor we realised nobody had said or wrote this. it was actually her own opinion and this is also being used to obtain the ICO.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear whatnow

I see that you have several questions that you wish to have answered:

Firstly, since last year all family cases are heard in the family court. This case can be heard by different level of judges. This will depend on the complexity of a case or the availability of particular judge.

It appears that your case may have been transferred to a circuit judge who is sitting at a particular court. The judge may be working from the court to which your case has been transferred and rather than delay the case it was transferred for hearing to that judge in the court where he or she is. There is no need to be nervous as it is only the venue that will be different and you will be represented.

There is nothing unsual in a solicitor instructing a barrister to represent a client. It is completely normal for a barrister, a barrister can be from the same area or not. Normally, there is an expectation that a barrister who is practising close to a court will be used rather than one who has to travel say for example from London to Birmingham.

Regarding your final question, the court has to be satisfied that Children Services has provided evidence to support an interim care order being made. If you do have evidence to support your position then you must ensure that your solicitor is aware of this so it is important that you let him or her have any documentary evidence and your full instructions so that your case can be properly prepared before the hearing.

You ask your solicitor to look at a recent decision from the President of the Family Division which states that a local authority in making allegations of significant harm has to provide evidence to support it. The case is Re A (a child) [2015] EWFC 11. It would be for your legal representatives to decide whether this is likely to be helpful to your particular circumstances.

I am including a copy of our advice sheet relating to care proceedings for your information.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Suzie