Writing a Statement for Court – Cases related to Shared
Residence or Contact Applications
The Custody Minefield Factsheets –
Smartphone Series (optimised for smartphone users). Copyright Michael Robinson
2011. Crown Copyright
material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the
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When
should I write a statement?
Do you
have any general tips about statement writing for court?
Do you have
any tips about how a statement should be structured?
How
should I refer to the other parent in my statement?
To assist you further, we have a
blank template
statement which you
can complete. You need Microsoft Word to open the template.
What is a statement? <Back to Top>
A statement is part of your evidence for the court.
It is a document which sets out your views, opinions and evidence, why you are
in court, and what court orders and arrangements you want to court to put in place.
Your statement can have other documentary evidence attached to it, which
supports your position and your requests to the court.
When should I write a statement? <Back to Top>
A judge will tell you when a statement is required,
and the date by which it should be ‘filed and served’. Filing means delivering
or posting a copy of the statement to the court, while serving means delivering
a copy of your statement to the other party or their solicitor if they are
legally represented. The court is also likely to direct you to provide a copy
of your statement to CAFCASS if they are involved in your case.
The court may direct both parties to ‘file and
serve’ statements on the same date, or for one to file and serve their
statement first, and the other to consider this and then file their own
statement in response.
Do you have any general tips about statement
writing for court? <Back to
Top>
Yes! It
is essential when preparing a statement for Court that it is well structured.
The content of your statement should be both fair and accurate and you should
be able to justify any comments/opinions you make. Where you give opinion, it
is helpful if you can provide evidence which is supportive of the points that
you wish to raise.
1] Fair and Accurate: What
you write in your statement must be true, fair and accurate. It should include
the wording (either at the start or at the end) ‘I [Type in your name] of [Type in your address] make this statement believing the contents to be true and knowing
that it will be put before the court and that I may be examined on the
contents.’
2] Simple: Your statement should be easy to
understand.
3] Timely: File and serve
your statement on time and do not leave starting it (or finishing it for that
matter) until the last minute. Nerves, stress and depression can make you ‘put
it off’ until tomorrow. Don’t!
4] Length: Don’t make the
statement so long that the important points get lost. Judges may get little
opportunity to read your statement before a hearing, sometimes only a few
minutes before they walk into court. I have seen exceptionally good statements
which were no more than 5 pages, but succinct and to the point.
5] Audience: Think of who
you are writing for! Wording which is aggressive, confrontational, overly
emotional and unnecessarily accusatory is not going to assist your children,
your case or you. Recognising your ex-partner’s good points as a parent does
not weaken your case for your continued involvement in the children’s lives. It
presents you as fair-minded. Think about the impression your statement makes.
As an example, if the other party is making false allegations about you, it is
less aggressive to say ‘What they say is
untrue’ rather than ‘X is a liar’.
Write about facts, not what you perceive as motive.
6] Child Focused: Keep
your statement child focussed. Your statement and reasons for being in court
should relate to your relationship with your child, not your past relationship
with your ex-partner. The court should consider ‘the welfare checklist’ when
making a decision concerning children. You should also consider the welfare
checklist and how it applies to your own children’s circumstances, your and
your ex-partner’s arguments to the court. The welfare
checklist is a list of matters related to child welfare, including:
a] The
ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child concerned (considered in light
of his/her age and understanding);
b] His/her physical, emotional and/or educational needs;
c] The likely effect on him/her of any change in his circumstances;
d] His/her age, sex, background and any characteristics of his/hers,
which the court considers relevant;
e] Any harm which he/she has suffered or is at risk of suffering.
f] How capable each of his/her parents and any other person in
relation to whom the court considers the question to be relevant, is of meeting
his/her needs;
g]
The range of powers available to the
court (under the Children Act of 1989) in the proceedings in question.
See
also our pdf document Research
Supporting the Importance of Shared Care
7] Reason your Requests:
Be clear in the arrangements you are asking the court to make, and give your
reasoning behind the requests. As an example, if applying for contact or shared
residence, state what days you want your children to be with you, and then go
on to explain the type of things you and your children do (or will do) in that
time. What is ‘family life’ for you? Describe the activities you and your
children get up to, including helping with homework, supporting any
extra-curricular activities, visiting grandparents etc. Explain why it is in
your children’s best interests that the court grants your application. Note:
your children’s best interests, not yours!
8] A Picture tells 1000
words: Consider including some photographs of yourself with your children
within your statement. It is simple enough to import a photograph or two into
the body of the statement (do not go overboard... one or two will do). I
suggest you do not include ‘posed’ photographs, but instead choose ‘natural’
photos e.g. showing the children and you playing or relaxing at home.
Photographs help you ‘show’ the judge your children’s life with you.
9] Be sure to make YOUR
points: Remember it is your statement and why you are writing it. I have
seen too many statements which focus mainly (or entirely) on criticising the
other parent’s position or defending against their allegations. It is important
to consider the balance of the overall document to ensure that your own
arguments, your requests to the court and your reasoning is prominent.
10] Be practical: are the
arrangements you want practical? If you want the children to be with you for
half the holidays, can you get this amount of time off work? What support will
you have for childcare if you or your child is ill? Are travel arrangements
practical for your child (as well as both parents). Is the handover location
sensible? Would a neutral location be better? Would it be less stressful for
all if you collect from and drop off to school? What time will you want to pick
your children up, and drop them back? If the other parent’s home is some
distance from you, can both parents afford the travel costs?
11] Evidence: If you can,
and where it strengthens your case, include documentary evidence such as:
a] The most recent school reports from the time when you were involved
in your children’s care which shows your children to be settled and doing well.
b] If appropriate, a letter from your employer confirming your holiday
entitlement or that your employer has agreed flexible
working arrangements so you can be involved in collection from school.
c] Letters from third parties confirming your ability as a parent. If
these are from childcare professionals and neutral third parties who have
witnessed you parenting your children will carry far more weight than letters
from friends and family (who the court would expect to be partisan).
d] Letters from close friends or family members who you can call on
should you or your child be unwell.
12] Interim Contact: If you
are not currently seeing your children, you should ask for an interim contact
order. It may be many months before a final order is made by the court which
decides residence and/or contact. If you are not seeing your children
currently, you will want to ask the court to put in place temporary contact
arrangements until such time as the final order is made. (See also our
information sheet Interim
and Supervised Contact Case Law)
As an example of how case law may assist and be
used/referred to, and using the example of one parent calling for the other
parent’s contact time to be supervised, you might wish to include:
I am aware that Mrs Bloggs is
asking the court not to allow me unsupervised contact. There are no genuine
welfare concerns, and I refer the court to the case AR (A Child: Relocation) [2010]
EWHC 1346 (Fam) in the High Court, and the Honourable Mr Justice Mostyn’s
judgment that both a child and their parent have the right to a normal family
life unless there is clear evidence why such arrangements would be inappropriate.
HHJ Mostyn said:
‘On
the facts of this case it is clear to me that supervised contact would only
have been appropriate if there was the clearest and most compelling evidence
that in some way S's best interests would be jeopardised by unsupervised,
normal contact. Given the terms of the Strasbourg jurisprudence to which I have
referred, it is almost as if there is a presumption in favour of normal contact
and it is for those who say it is inappropriate to prove by clear evidence why
this is so.’
See
also our information sheet on Shared
Residence Case Law
14] Consider Structured
Arrangements: If asking for holiday contact (or if you are applying for
residence, and setting out when you want your child to reside with you), it may
help you to ask for structured arrangements. As a example, if asking for half
the holidays, suggesting the first week of Easter, Christmas week to alternate
annually between the parents’ homes, half terms to alternate (or be split), and
specifying the first two weeks of the Summer be with mum, the second fortnight
with dad, then a week each, may help prevent returns to court. Structured
arrangements can prevent the need for a return to court in the future. Do not
forget to include arrangements for birthdays (yours and the children’s),
father’s and mother’s days, etc if you think agreeing such things in the future
with your ex-partner may be difficult.
15] Consider Holidays Abroad:
If applying for contact, and if the other parent can be difficult when it comes
to agreeing arrangements, consider asking the court to make a specific issue
order to grant permission for you to take the children abroad. If a residence
order is made in favour of the other parent, you cannot take the children
abroad without their (or the court’s) consent. If you are granted shared
residence, either parent can take the children abroad for up to 28 days at a
time.
16] Experts and Welfare
Officers: Consider whether you want the court to have any investigations
carried out and asking for this in your statement, either to be conducted by
CAFCASS Officers (or similar), or experts such as psychologists.
You should only be asking for CAFCASS
involvement if there are serious welfare concerns, since their involvement is
likely to delay a final order by months. You are likely to need evidence to
confirm the need for expert involvement, and again, any investigation and
reporting back to the court will delay your proceedings considerably.
17] Re-draft if necessary:
Read and re-read your statement once it is finished. Aside from checking
spelling and grammar, consider:
a] whether the points you wish to make are clear. Try not to have
paragraphs be too long;
b] whether each paragraph/point you raise is necessary. If it is not,
then delete it. Do not risk your main points being obscured with ‘fluff’,
‘padding’ or repetition;
c] whether
language/sentences/paragraphs can be simplified to make them easier to
understand;
d] if what you have written could be misread
or misinterpreted.
18] Closure: When it is
finished and you are happy with it, put it away until the date when the
statement should be filed and served. Read it again the day before you are next
due in court!
Do you have any tips about how a statement should
be structured? <Back to
Top>
Yes.
1] Paragraphs: The
statement should have numbered paragraphs. Again, try not
to have any paragraph be too long. If you need sub-paragraphs, include letters:
a] Like this
2] Font and size: Times
New Roman 12 is ideal.
3] Line spacing: Set line
spacing at 1.5 times which makes the statement easier to read.
4] Margins: Set the left
hand margin to at least 2.5cm. Later, your statement is likely to be included
in a ‘court bundle’ (a file containing all the case paperwork which either you
or the solicitor acting for the other parent will need to provide for the
court’s use).
5] Page Numbering:
Include page numbers in the bottom right hand corner of each page. It will be
helpful if you carry on the page numbering on any pages of evidence you attach
to your statement.
6] Template: Refer to our
template statement which also shows the correct
headings for the statement e.g. including the court name and location, the case
number, the date, the children’s names and dates of birth and the parties’
names and whether they are the applicant (party applying to court) or the
respondent (party replying to an application).
7] Evidence - References and
Index: If you are including documentary evidence to support points you make
in your statement, provide an index for those documents. This index should
follow after the final page of your statement. For each item of evidence, give
a unique reference made up of the initials of your name, and a number for the
piece of evidence itself. If your name is Joe Bloggs, the reference number
would be [JB1], then [JB2] for the next item of evidence,
and so on. Write this reference on the top right hand side of the evidence, and
within your statement, include the reference at the end of the sentence in
which you refer to it (in bold and within square brackets).
As an example: if the third piece of
evidence in your statement was a letter from your employer, and your name was
Joe Bloggs, the referencing within the statement would appear as follows:
My employer, The Original Tile Company, has
agreed to flexible working arrangements which will allow me to pick up Todd and
Wendy from school. [JB3]
The
numbering of evidence should be sequential.
8] Sub headings: Use sub
headings so that the statement has some structure to make it easier to
understand including:
a) History: Include the
following details, giving a separate numbered paragraph for each: whether you
and your ex-partner were married and if so, when; your children’s names and
their ages; when you separated from your ex-partner; any previous applications
you have made to court concerning your children and the case numbers and include
details of any orders made; the extent of your involvement in your children’s
day-to-day care (if this assists you). Matters to include might be the
extra-curricular activities you have supported your children in (dance classes,
music, sports, etc), your past financial commitment and support, activities
which you and the children have enjoyed together etc.
b] Request to the Court:
Set out what orders you want the court to make e.g. a shared
residence order, a contact
order, a specific
issue order, a prohibited
steps order, a parental
responsibility order (if you do not have parental responsibility and are
applying for contact rather than sole or shared residence) and/or a family
assistance order. Whichever is relevant and assists your desired outcome.
Set out the contact time that you are asking the court to grant. Some parents
prefer to use the term ‘parenting time’.
c) Current Situation:
Include what contact you are currently having with your children. If any
serious allegations have been made against you, answer them here. You may also
wish to include any activities you currently support your children in, and how
you support your children in maintaining their relationships with other family
members such as grandparents. If you have any concerns, again raise them in
this section, but be factual and ideally include evidence which supports your
concerns. Make sure you consider the welfare
checklist, both in terms of your proposals and your reasons for asking the
court to grant them.
d] Other Party’s Position
(e.g. Mother’s Position or Father’s Position depending on the circumstances): You may want to include a section on
the other party’s position/wishes, and your own views as top these. Again, try
to keep your opinion objective and based on fact. If you disagree with what the
other parent wishes, again, give clear, objective reasons why, and based on the
children’s needs rather than your own
wishes.
e] Summary: Unless your
statement is particularly short, include a brief summary so the court is in no
doubt as to what you are asking for e.g.:
23. I ask the court to grant a shared residence order with the
following pattern of parenting time:
a] That Todd and Wendy should reside with me on
Wednesday evenings, with collection from school and drop off to school on the
Thursday mornings;
b] That the children reside with me on alternate
weekends from Friday night to Monday morning, with collection from/drop off to
school;
c] etc...
d] and should reside with their mother (or father) at all other times.
24. I believe these arrangements to best suit the children’s welfare
needs.
25. Until a final order is made, I ask the court to grant an interim
contact order, setting out that the children should have staying contact with
me on Wednesday nights, and on alternate weekends from Friday to Monday.
9] Sign and date your
statement.
How should I refer to the other parent in my
statement? <Back to
Top>
If they are the applicant (the person applying to
the court), you can refer to them as ‘the Applicant’. If they are responding to
your application to the court, you can refer to them as ‘the Respondent’.
Personally, I would refer to them by name, which is clearer and less
‘clinical’. Mrs XXX will do.
Support <Back to
Top>
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