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Your parents are going to court What will happen to you? When your parents separate, they may go to a court to help them decide who you will live with. This is called residence. Sometimes, they can agree about where you should live, but might ask the court to help them organise your visits with the parent you don't live with. This is called contact. Will anyone listen to what you have to say? What you have to say is very important. The court will want to know what you think before it makes any decision. Maybe you don't want to say what you want. That's okay too. Nobody will force you to talk about things you don't want to discuss. How can you be sure the court will listen? You won't have to go to court and speak yourself. We understand that could be hard for you. Instead, a person called a child's representative will talk to you on your own before the court day. Your representative has a responsibility just to you. Your representative is a lawyer who goes to court for you and tells the judge what they think is the best result for you. The court calls this acting in your best interests. What should you tell your representative? Tell your lawyer as much as you can. This way he or she will get a really good idea of what you think. Everything you say will help your lawyer understand what is happening in your family. Will your representative only talk to you? No. Your representative will need to get information about your family. This means they might need to talk to your teacher, to your counsellor if you have one-people who know you and your family well. All this will help the child's representative work out what is best for you. Do you have to tell your parents what you said? No. Anything you tell your representative should be kept between the two of you. You don't have to tell anybody else. Will you have to talk to anybody else? Sometimes it is hard to work out what is happening in a family. This makes it difficult for the court to work out what will be best for you. When this happens, the court will ask you to meet a special witness, usually a counsellor, sometimes a doctor. This person will prepare a report for the court. This report is called evidence. When do you talk to your representative? Whenever you want to. He or she will make sure you know how to keep in touch with one another. Because your child representative is a lawyer, they have to go to court a lot. Make sure you leave a message so that your representative knows you telephoned and want to talk. Will the court do what you want? The court will listen to what everybody in your family has to say. On the court day, your lawyer will be there specially to look after your best interests. The judge will then consider the matter carefully and decide what is best for you. Sometimes, not often, this may be different to what you want. Who will tell you what the court has decided? The Court will make a decision called a Court Order. Your lawyer will explain exactly what it means to you. If you have any questions, make sure you ask him or her. He or she will then try to make sure things happen the way the order says they should. What if you're unhappy because the court has decided you should live with the parent you don't want to live with? It is a hard decision for the court to make but the judge will only make it after listening to everyone. Sometimes you might not be happy with the decision. Maybe you will not understand the reason for it. You might even disagree with it at the time. So it is important you remember that the Court's main reason for the decision is always what is best for you. Your lawyer can ask different judges to think again about the court orders. This is called an appeal. This doesn't happen often, and will only happen if he or she thinks the court orders are not in your best interests and that they will win the appeal. Usually, only parents appeal. You can always ring your child representative if you feel worried about the decision or if you keep having problems. |
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