Application for access to son / supervised access / Section 47 Report

Simon76

My wife and I have been separated for over a year now and our son, who is just under a two years old, is living with her at her parents’ house. Getting access to my son has been made increasingly difficult. My wife is unfairly accusing me of being a risk to my son. She now has the support of her family in this and they have joined with her in making a number of accusations against me.

I have been unable to reach agreement with her on the subject of access as part of a separation agreement process. Through her solicitors my wife has proposed that a Section 47 report be completed in relation to access. I am trying to decide whether or not to apply for access through the courts. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone, who has been through this process or knows about the experience of someone, who has been through this process.

I would also appreciate any feedback on the subject of supervised access as my solicitor has said that due to the accusations of my wife and her family and the limited access to my son that I have had so far that a judge may decide that access should be supervised at least initially.

What was the judge's decision with regard to the application for access in your case? In what way did it benefit or go against you or the person making the application?

What was the affect in terms of your relationship with the custodial parent and possibly their family? How did they react?

If your application was successful did the custodial parent throw up any obstacles with regard to the enforcement of the court’s decision? If so, what were they?

If the judge decided to grant supervised access for how long did the access have to continue to supervised?

Who carried out the supervision? Was there any challenge made against the proposal that a member of applicants’ family carry out the supervision? If so, who carried out the supervision?

Do you have any experience of the use of a Section 47 report with regard to access? If so were you satisfied with the outcome?

sparkling sea

There have been several studies undertaken in recent years on the courts decision in access cases and it is almost unheard of for a father not to given access rights.

These cases are being heard very swiftly at the moment - within about 2 months in most cases but it can depend on how pushy you are with your solicitor. If you met the criteria you may qualify for legal aid.

You should contact FLAC to discuss you legal options and AMEN or even better still USPI would have a wealth of information for you and should be able to answer any queries you have.

Simon76

Many thanks for these points and the names of these organisations.