Login at Family Law Express

At my recent pre-trial hearing, I got to meet the independent children’s lawyer that had been appointed to our case.

As I understand it, she was appointed by the Court, and it was done in a random manner as she was next in the list.

It was the first time I had met or seen her however, and as a Self-represented Litigant, I thought it proper to introduce myself but she declined my attempt.

She said that anything she had to say to me would be dome via the court room, which I found both unnecessarily aggressive and started me thinking whether she was biased against me

Through-out the day, I found out that she had interviewed my wife in a personal face to face meeting, and also interviewed my child.

She however never contacted me, nor did she even inform me that she intended to interview my wife, nor was she evidently interested in interviewing me.

That pre-trial hearing achieved very little, but for the Court suggesting that a Family Report writer write a report on our family dynamic.

I had no issue with this, but as soon as the Judge mentioned it, the ICL made a recommendation that a certain report writer be assigned this task.

I had no idea who this report writer was, or whether she would be objective, but I was suspicious based on the enthusiasm of the ICL.

The Judge did ask me whether I objected to this report writer, to which I said ‘No’, but now I regret agreeing to it.

Given the ICL’s behaviour, I am very worried that the Report Writer was chosen because of her reputation, but I have not been able to find out much information on her one way or the other so far.

Can I get the selection of report writer reviewed, given my concerns? Can I nominate another report writer, who I believe would be more objective?

I am now very anxious that I have been set up by an ICL who has clearly demonstrated who she sympathises with in our child custody dispute.

Since my divorce I have been living with my widowed mother, who has been increasingly relying on my management of all her household expenses.

I basically pay for all household expenses such as groceries and bills from my own income, but when it comes to my mother’s healthcare, I have been relying on her pension.

My mother suffers from a large number of chronic conditions, requiring a special diet, daily medications, monitoring equipment, frequent doctor visits and periodic nurse care, which adds up to be a significant cost over time.

So I am in a position where I really rely on my mother’s pension for her healthcare.

I have recently heard that the government has introduced significant changes that will apply to the age pension from the beginning of 2017, and I am concerned that this will impact the most vulnerable like my mother and I.

Can anyone explain whether these changes will reduce or remove the pension from elderly widows like my mother who owns her house outright, and has funds left over to her from my deceased father, but other than that she is very old and frail and needs ongoing healthcare support?

Can apprehended bias (or something else) be used in order to change family reporter in circumstances where the family reporters first report was grossly and patently wrong, fooled by the acting of one parent and child deliberately attempting to deceive the court, missing the nasty psychological dynamics altogether (although clear and obvious evidence of the dynamics was not available at the time of the report, but is available now)?
A fully ethical reporter would admit they were totally wrong, but in circumstances where the reporters reputation is that they don't change their mind under cross-examination (ever?), it would be a risk to use the same reporter again.
At a minimum they may be tempted to water down their assessment, as to make a full and proper assessment would be pointing out just how dangerously wrong (perhaps incompetent) they were in the first instance.
Could this count for apprehended bias, or is there something else that can be used here to effect change of a family reporter?

Hi Dr Gee,

I am about to meet the family report writer next week, and I will be seeing him with my soon-to-be ex-wife and our child, apparently together in the same room.

Is this normal practice?

I am really paranoid that my ex will try and 'game' the session and try to get into an argument with me, to try and prove that we cannot negotiate on important matters relating to our kids.

She is asking for sole custody, and her argument is that we cannot stand being in the same room with each other.

And she is right to a degree, because she always blames me for everything, like a few weeks ago our eldest boy got a runny nose, and she went to great pains to calculate that he caught the bug while he was with me.

It is these relentlessly malicious comments that eventually get under my skin, and I would like to know that whether the Report Writer cares about right or wrong, or does he simply think "well, they can't get along so its best for the kids that the mother has sole parental responsibility".

if it is important that I just get along, then I will do that, because the last thing my kids need is for me to lose the little contact I do have, but I just need to know whether it is the existence of conflict on its that determine whether sole responsibility is given, or whether family report writers judge who is being malicious and for what reasons?

Can I use no shows to child contact centres as evidence against my ex, or is this privileged information, like the information that is client/solicitor privileged?

I had an appeal hearing yesterday & I am told it will take anything upto 6 months at the moment to get the judgement back.

I had an incompetent lawyer who didn't prepare for trial. I fired them after the initial 3 days of the original trial proceedings. Unfortunately it has left me in a position where alot of the arguments can now not be put forward. 

The children and I put up with arson attacks, i was publicly assaulted twice, cars vandalised, harrassment. theft, the children were abducted at one point and my oldest alienated (although she has since recovered). 

Beth, my 5 yr old, ended up in a residency reversal in october last year - to the people responsible for what ive just listed - although they have never been charged with anything.. 

She is now frequently ill, persistently suffering from bruising, has her communication with me constantly sabotaged, and is desperately missing all her family members who she has been with all her life until these current orders under appeal & often demonstrates violent refusals to return to her fathers (we have changeovers through a contact centre). 

I have tried a new application & it was dismissed. I have filed 2 contravention applications - one for the school holidays with me that she didn't get - & the same bias judge dismissed it - & it had been her own order & his blatant contravention. 

The 2nd contravention had some 18 counts - the judge dismissed all but 4 because she said they weren't worded well enough (& ordered i pay $7k of his costs for the priviledge of that little gem). 

There are 4 counts left to be heard next month, none of which are major enough to bring the residency into question..

Is there any way to get a second opinion before the courts when the family report seems to have bias?

For any serious medical condition I wouldn't think twice about getting a 2nd or 3rd opinion, but are you limited to 1 with the family report?

Any other options other than just critisizing it at the trial?

It would seem to make sense to get another experts opinion before the Judge.

Thanks

How do I best document behaviour from my ex that is designed to interfere with my contact with our girls.

I mean things like the kids not being home on the night that I am to pick them up (she arranged for them to have a sleep-over with friends that night).

Or not allowing the girls to answer the phone when I call, or hurrying the girls to finish talking to me on the phone (in less than 30 seconds) because they are always allegedly in a hurry for one thing or another.

Or when the girls are with me, the mother gives the girls all this apparent home work (not real home work, but reading certain books), which stresses the girls out and they refuse to even go to the shops with me for fear that they will not finish the book reading.

It is not a matter of one big thing, but numerous little things that undermine my relationship with my kids. I basically have no say with my girls, regardless of whether they are will me or with their mother.

However I find it difficult to document these issues. Should I try and take photos or record audio?

Should I simply write it down like diary entries?

Which way would a court prefer such issues to be documented for the purposes of being used as evidence?

I am just wondering how easy or hard it is to not just dispute the family report, but to somehow remove the psychologist from your case?

Our psychologist, who is apparently preparing a family report, is a female who has made some negative comments to me, suggesting that she believes what my ex told her without seeking any proof.

She has also seen my ex 4 times, twice without the kids, and I suspect that they have a friendship that is outside the professional situation.

If I can prove this friendship, is it possible for me to get her discharged from the case?

I have recorded my wife on my iphone threatening to prevent me from seeing my kids again.

I also two genuine phone recordings of my wife, one on an answering machine that continued to record after I picked it up, and the other is a recording I organised myself with a device attached to the phone.

I would like to know whether legally I am allowed to submit any of these recordings to Police or to Court as evidence?