Hi,
I am in the middle of a long divorce at the moment, and the father of my child has just recently contacted me via sms demanding to see her. I have a Violence Restraining Order (of about 4 months) against him for myself, as he became abusive during this period. The judge did not put our child on there. The Violence Restraining Order also states that he is allowed to contact me via sms and only if it is about our daughter.
Prior to the VRO ,he had never attempted to see, call or even ask how our daughter was. Despite my best efforts to keep a healthy relationship between the two, he just became more and more abusive towards me in front of her. She is only 4 years old and this was incredibly distressing for her to see.
About 2 and a half months ago, I contacted him through a lawyer, and with theirs and our daughter's psychologist's (she has been seeing her for about 3 years for other reasons and is now getting help for this too) help, wrote a proposed parenting plan that was deemed to be in our child's best interests for the time being. He never replied to the plan and also stopped paying for her healthcare and school fees, ultimately meaning he was not contributing to her life in any way whatsoever.
It has now been a month past the deadline that was given for him to reply before the legal aid lawyer would close the case and he is now demanding to see her without having even acknowledged the parenting plan proposed. It has now been close to 5 months since she has seen him.
Is he allowed to do that? Should he have to respond to the parenting plan first, before he can demand to see her?
Do I have to respond to him immediately? Or am I able to seek more legal advice before doing so?
I'd like to keep my personal contact with him to a minimum if possible, preferably contacting him via a lawyer.
I am in the middle of a long divorce at the moment, and the father of my child has just recently contacted me via sms demanding to see her. I have a Violence Restraining Order (of about 4 months) against him for myself, as he became abusive during this period. The judge did not put our child on there. The Violence Restraining Order also states that he is allowed to contact me via sms and only if it is about our daughter.
Prior to the VRO ,he had never attempted to see, call or even ask how our daughter was. Despite my best efforts to keep a healthy relationship between the two, he just became more and more abusive towards me in front of her. She is only 4 years old and this was incredibly distressing for her to see.
About 2 and a half months ago, I contacted him through a lawyer, and with theirs and our daughter's psychologist's (she has been seeing her for about 3 years for other reasons and is now getting help for this too) help, wrote a proposed parenting plan that was deemed to be in our child's best interests for the time being. He never replied to the plan and also stopped paying for her healthcare and school fees, ultimately meaning he was not contributing to her life in any way whatsoever.
It has now been a month past the deadline that was given for him to reply before the legal aid lawyer would close the case and he is now demanding to see her without having even acknowledged the parenting plan proposed. It has now been close to 5 months since she has seen him.
Is he allowed to do that? Should he have to respond to the parenting plan first, before he can demand to see her?
Do I have to respond to him immediately? Or am I able to seek more legal advice before doing so?
I'd like to keep my personal contact with him to a minimum if possible, preferably contacting him via a lawyer.
