Hi,
I will try to keep this as short and simple as I possibly can.
After waiting several months to have our 2 day contested hearing set by one magistrate in March for the start of October we find out from our VLA lawyer the night before that we don't have a magistrate allocated, but to show up as nobody knew whats happening.
We show up early next morning and about 2 hours later, we were informed that we had a last minute magistrate assigned.
This guy was pissed, first thing he said, that we should not be here and it was a waste of court resources as he had a few criminal convictions via a video to tend to, and that this was beyond him, then he invoked some section 71c, I think it was, which stunned all three of our barristers as my sons property was a main issue of concern, he was even upset why we wanted to view a whole heap of subpoenas from two states, he just kept looking at the clock, he then forced us to negotiate for an hour which we objected due to the nature of the case, he then gets upset why nothing happened and starts running the hearing.
After an hour of listening to the prosecution and my now ex wife, we adjourn for lunch, our barristers aren't happy as they reckon its all a waste of time as his honor is not interested, and the other party has gone off the rails.
After lunch we reconvene and go for another 1.5 hours then court is adjourned.
Next day his honor gets pissed why my daughter is not present and is in hospital as she attempts suicide for the 13th time and forces us to negotiate, ignoring strong objections from our barristers, after 1.5 hours we reconvene, then the prosecutor informs the court that my ex will need at least 2 more days on the stand and thats not including us 3 still needing our time.
He forces us into more negotiations as now the court has informed us that there is a day next year in January, 2 days in April, 2-3 in October to get through everything.
We had enough, we weren't going to wait another year so we all consented without admission to the cross applied IVOs.
Back in June our same lawyer from VLA told us that if we weren't happy with October's outcome that we can put an appeal in to the County Court, as she withdrew an appeal in early June of this year due to concern over a precedent that was set a few days earlier in the Supreme Court.
Well we did do that, our mention is on 25th November.
She just told us last week that she can't represent us and we need a family lawyer, as she advised us to take the offers, and that we must find new lawyers that will take the case on grant of legal aid.
To date we have spoken to many law firms both private and government funded, they have all stated that VLA should still assist with a family lawyer and to represent us, as they have gone through our case files and are quite concerned how the system has treated us from unfounded frivolous and vexatious claims, and to have a legal person represent us at the mention so we can go through to the actual appeal.
We have contacted VLA on a few occasions to date and are getting mixed responses.
We get told they are organising a lawyer then they are not as the ex lawyer is telling us something different.
We cant get a straight answer from them.
Any suggestions on what we should do?
As the clock is ticking.
Thanks.
Sash.
I will try to keep this as short and simple as I possibly can.
After waiting several months to have our 2 day contested hearing set by one magistrate in March for the start of October we find out from our VLA lawyer the night before that we don't have a magistrate allocated, but to show up as nobody knew whats happening.
We show up early next morning and about 2 hours later, we were informed that we had a last minute magistrate assigned.
This guy was pissed, first thing he said, that we should not be here and it was a waste of court resources as he had a few criminal convictions via a video to tend to, and that this was beyond him, then he invoked some section 71c, I think it was, which stunned all three of our barristers as my sons property was a main issue of concern, he was even upset why we wanted to view a whole heap of subpoenas from two states, he just kept looking at the clock, he then forced us to negotiate for an hour which we objected due to the nature of the case, he then gets upset why nothing happened and starts running the hearing.
After an hour of listening to the prosecution and my now ex wife, we adjourn for lunch, our barristers aren't happy as they reckon its all a waste of time as his honor is not interested, and the other party has gone off the rails.
After lunch we reconvene and go for another 1.5 hours then court is adjourned.
Next day his honor gets pissed why my daughter is not present and is in hospital as she attempts suicide for the 13th time and forces us to negotiate, ignoring strong objections from our barristers, after 1.5 hours we reconvene, then the prosecutor informs the court that my ex will need at least 2 more days on the stand and thats not including us 3 still needing our time.
He forces us into more negotiations as now the court has informed us that there is a day next year in January, 2 days in April, 2-3 in October to get through everything.
We had enough, we weren't going to wait another year so we all consented without admission to the cross applied IVOs.
Back in June our same lawyer from VLA told us that if we weren't happy with October's outcome that we can put an appeal in to the County Court, as she withdrew an appeal in early June of this year due to concern over a precedent that was set a few days earlier in the Supreme Court.
Well we did do that, our mention is on 25th November.
She just told us last week that she can't represent us and we need a family lawyer, as she advised us to take the offers, and that we must find new lawyers that will take the case on grant of legal aid.
To date we have spoken to many law firms both private and government funded, they have all stated that VLA should still assist with a family lawyer and to represent us, as they have gone through our case files and are quite concerned how the system has treated us from unfounded frivolous and vexatious claims, and to have a legal person represent us at the mention so we can go through to the actual appeal.
We have contacted VLA on a few occasions to date and are getting mixed responses.
We get told they are organising a lawyer then they are not as the ex lawyer is telling us something different.
We cant get a straight answer from them.
Any suggestions on what we should do?
As the clock is ticking.
Thanks.
Sash.
