Mr S was facing a parenting dispute with his former spouse whereby allegations were made that he had been physically abusive to his 6 year old child during sleepovers at his house. The allegations were reported to have been identified by the child’s daycare supervisors and the Mother sought orders that his time be reduced to 2 hours each fortnight at a contact centre. Our client denied the allegations and asserted that the child thoroughly enjoyed their visits.

Jones Hardy Law took careful instructions from Mr A about all the communication between himself and the Mother in the leadup to the alleged abuse.

Subpoenas were issued to the day-care centre to ascertain what if any actual disclosures were made by the Child and what correspondence was exchanged between the Mother and the day-care centre regarding the disclosures.

Evidence Review and Analysis: Upon reviewing the Mother’s affidavit material regarding the allegations and the subpoenaed notes from daycare, it became apparent that the child had not in-fact made direct disclosures independently, but rather the disclosures were made by the Mother, in the presence of the child and recorded by the day-care centre as having been made by the child. It further became apparent that words asserted by the mother as having been spoken by the Child, were in-fact carbon copies of the ‘notes’ made by the day-care staff.

Legal Strategy Development: We pieced together a chronology of correspondence between the our client and the Mother which directly contradicted what the Mother said had transpired in her affidavit. We developed a case theory whereby there had been a collusion between the Mother and the Day-care centre and we identified a pre-existing relationship between the Mother and the Daycare centre which added weight to our assertion that the ‘notes’ were unreliable

Negotiated settlement: Upon providing all of our evidence to the Mother’s solicitor, we were able to negotiate the immediate resumption of our client’s time with the Child without the need for a hearing.

Leveraging the expertise and strategic defence crafted by Jones Hardy Law, Mr S successfully navigated the complexities of the family law system. Rather than simply accepting the allegations as having been made and offering a blanket denial, our team took the time and obtained the evidence necessary to pick apart a complex web of deceptions which was being used to restrict our client’s time with his child. By demonstrating that his lawyers would go the extra mile to defend against false allegations, Mr S was able to force his former partner back to the negotiating table so that they could formulate a final parenting arrangements that were in the best interests of their child. This result represented a far better outcome than a protracted final hearing on the matter which could have taken years.