Hi Cupcake,
The usual practice is not to submit too many paper correspondences back and forth. There is really little need to submit a response to the response unless you have something complicated or vital to add that you did not mention in your previous submissions. Further, the response should only deal with the response part of the other side, not a reiteration of what you have already submitted.
You should have a court hearing about the AVO coming up, correct? If there is something to add, you should have a chance in court to make the submission verbally.
The usual practice is not to submit too many paper correspondences back and forth. There is really little need to submit a response to the response unless you have something complicated or vital to add that you did not mention in your previous submissions. Further, the response should only deal with the response part of the other side, not a reiteration of what you have already submitted.
You should have a court hearing about the AVO coming up, correct? If there is something to add, you should have a chance in court to make the submission verbally.
These links may help you:
- "Applying for an AVO" (especially what the applicant must show so get a better idea of what you may be up against)
- "Going to Court"
i had to withdraw my application. other parties lawyer made a case that i was just being vindictive and trying to ruin the other parties reputation. so disappointed with the legal system. i have been systematically stalked for over 2 years, had false police reports made about myself, slanderous letters sent to all and sundry about me, false accusations in court, phone account broken into, fake online profiles made to stalk me, filming - THE LIST IS ENDLESS, but its seems the more money you have and the more you are prepared to lie to win - you win.
i now wonder how many more years of this i have to put up with before something gets done for me. :-( so disappointed, i do not understand the law at all.
i now wonder how many more years of this i have to put up with before something gets done for me. :-( so disappointed, i do not understand the law at all.
If I may...
Having read your posts consistently, Cupcake, I say with the best of intentions that I feel that your matter is very a simple one, being made increasingly and unnecessarily complex by your legal actions.
It's not often that a family law matter leaves almost no legal stone unturned, but in your case so far, we have:
- An application for parenting orders for care, relocation and education;
- An application for an AVO;
- An application for property settlement;
- An application for spousal maintenance; and
- An application for a departure from a child support assessment.
The advantage of supporting your role as a self-represented litigant with legal advice from a qualified professional (e.g. not a stranger on the Internet) is that they will be able to assess your situation wholly and formulate a case based on probable outcomes. Given the lack of experience and legal training, self-represented litigants have a habit of using every legal avenue available to them, instead of just the ones most likely to result in a positive outcome. The problem with not tailoring your case based on probable outcomes is that the court doesn't have the time or resources to deal with it, and will often award costs in the respondent's favour to cover the imposition of prolonged and often unnecessary proceedings.
An AVO is only a probable outcome if your fear of the other party is genuine and he can be proven to be a threat to your safety. The lawyer's argument that you were 'vindictive' and 'trying to ruin his reputation' is a fairly feeble argument, but it was enough to deter you from pursuing action any further. To an onlooker, that looks like your fear of the father probably isn't genuine, doesn't it?
Spousal maintenance is a very difficult order to have made, these days, because you must prove you're in a position of extreme financial hardship as a result of the marriage. If you were in a position of financial hardship, you would probably have received Legal Aid funding, but that aside, if the father isn't an explicitly high-income earner and you are anywhere in the realm of employable, it's unlikely you'll win an order for spousal maintenance.
On top of that, I'm not sure how one would explain enroling the kids in a private school without the consent of the father on either enrolment or cost division, considering your apparent position of 'financial hardship', but this also brings us to the question of departure from child support assessment. Child support payments cover essential costs, and an essential cost is public school. The court probably won't order a departure from child support because it was your sole decision, made unilaterally without the father's consent, to enrol the kids in an expensive private school. The court doesn't often order that one parent should be made to pay for the decisions of the other, especially when those decisions legally should not have been made unless there was genuine consultation and agreement between the parties.
So really, we're down to two issues here - property settlement and parenting orders. If I remember correctly, the property settlement has already been reached, has it not?
Now, I mean all of this with the best of intentions to maybe provide some insight about how to assess your position and develop your case in terms of probable outcomes, which is what most lawyers try to do. Being able to pursue a long list of legal avenues doesn't mean you should, and it is sometimes the case that the court will order costs against a party that tries to do so because it is seen to unnecessarily frustrate and prolong what is otherwise a very simple proceeding.
I sincerely hope that I have not offended you in any way, but I try to help people on this forum by focusing on probable outcomes, and sometimes, those probable outcomes simply aren't what people want to hear.
Having read your posts consistently, Cupcake, I say with the best of intentions that I feel that your matter is very a simple one, being made increasingly and unnecessarily complex by your legal actions.
It's not often that a family law matter leaves almost no legal stone unturned, but in your case so far, we have:
- An application for parenting orders for care, relocation and education;
- An application for an AVO;
- An application for property settlement;
- An application for spousal maintenance; and
- An application for a departure from a child support assessment.
The advantage of supporting your role as a self-represented litigant with legal advice from a qualified professional (e.g. not a stranger on the Internet) is that they will be able to assess your situation wholly and formulate a case based on probable outcomes. Given the lack of experience and legal training, self-represented litigants have a habit of using every legal avenue available to them, instead of just the ones most likely to result in a positive outcome. The problem with not tailoring your case based on probable outcomes is that the court doesn't have the time or resources to deal with it, and will often award costs in the respondent's favour to cover the imposition of prolonged and often unnecessary proceedings.
An AVO is only a probable outcome if your fear of the other party is genuine and he can be proven to be a threat to your safety. The lawyer's argument that you were 'vindictive' and 'trying to ruin his reputation' is a fairly feeble argument, but it was enough to deter you from pursuing action any further. To an onlooker, that looks like your fear of the father probably isn't genuine, doesn't it?
Spousal maintenance is a very difficult order to have made, these days, because you must prove you're in a position of extreme financial hardship as a result of the marriage. If you were in a position of financial hardship, you would probably have received Legal Aid funding, but that aside, if the father isn't an explicitly high-income earner and you are anywhere in the realm of employable, it's unlikely you'll win an order for spousal maintenance.
On top of that, I'm not sure how one would explain enroling the kids in a private school without the consent of the father on either enrolment or cost division, considering your apparent position of 'financial hardship', but this also brings us to the question of departure from child support assessment. Child support payments cover essential costs, and an essential cost is public school. The court probably won't order a departure from child support because it was your sole decision, made unilaterally without the father's consent, to enrol the kids in an expensive private school. The court doesn't often order that one parent should be made to pay for the decisions of the other, especially when those decisions legally should not have been made unless there was genuine consultation and agreement between the parties.
So really, we're down to two issues here - property settlement and parenting orders. If I remember correctly, the property settlement has already been reached, has it not?
Now, I mean all of this with the best of intentions to maybe provide some insight about how to assess your position and develop your case in terms of probable outcomes, which is what most lawyers try to do. Being able to pursue a long list of legal avenues doesn't mean you should, and it is sometimes the case that the court will order costs against a party that tries to do so because it is seen to unnecessarily frustrate and prolong what is otherwise a very simple proceeding.
I sincerely hope that I have not offended you in any way, but I try to help people on this forum by focusing on probable outcomes, and sometimes, those probable outcomes simply aren't what people want to hear.
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