How would I stand applying to court for deminishing parental rights?
Ok so I have 2 children (aged 5 and 3) with my ex husband. We married Aug 2008 and split feb 2009. I divorced him on grounds of unreasonable behaviour and the divorce was finalised in March 2010.
Since we split in Feb 09 he has seen the kids 7 times from the feb until June. When we split he wasn't happy for us to arrange contact between us so he arranged mediation through his solicitor. At the first session it was agreed that he would pick our daughter from nursery once a week and he would have the chidren every Tuesday and Sunday (no overnight contact although he did say that in 4-6 weeks from the date of 1st mediation he would be able to get his dads house (a 3 bed house with converted attic) cleaned etc so he could have the kids overnight). He saw the kids a couple of times and picked my daughter up from nursery a couple of times. A 2nd mediation date was set for approx 4 weeks after to see how things were going. He never showed so a 3rd appointment was made which he never turned up for so a final 4th appointment was made which he did turn up to and it was arranged that he would have the children every other Saturday and Sunday (again no overnight contact because he couldn't be bothered to sort out the house). He saw them for the first weekend and then didn't bother because something else was more important than the kids.
I applied to court for a contact order because I was fed up of him letting the kids down and residence order because he kept threatening to not bring the kids back and break in to my house and take the kids. He never bothered turning up to the first court session and they awarded me residence. He turned up to the 2nd court hearing and CAFCASS report came back that when we together there were allegations of sexual abuse against him on a 12 year old girl, he was 22. I didn't have a clue about this! He also came up with every excuse possible why he couldn't have the kids. Because of the allegations it had to be referred to county court. He never turned up so no order was made and as it stands he has to take me to court if he wants to see the kids.
Since we split he hasn't paid anything towards the kids and he hasn't seen the kids since Aug last year, neither kids got a xmas card or present or birthday card or present off him last year or this year (despite me getting him cards and presents for xmas and his birthday last year). He hasn't bothered applying to court for contact either. My daughter doesn't call him dad anymore she, in the very rare occasion that he has popped up in convosation, she calls him by his name. Both my son and daughter have been calling my current parter dad for some time now and my son doesn't even remember who his bio dad is because he hasn't seen him since before he was 2 years old.
I went to a solicitor a month or so ago to see where I would stand on getting his PR taken off him and changing the kids last names. She explained I could apply for name change and everything that would entail and she also advised me that I would be very unlikely to get the court to rule to have his PR revoked, she said she has had worse cases than mine that didn't succeed.
The thing is since then he has been arrested for statutory rape on a 15 year old (he is now 28). They apparently charged him and he is out on bail until his court hearing. I need to know if this will increase my chances of getting the court to agree to revoke his PR? The solicitor said last time though that because he hasn't applied for contact and is leaving us alone for now that it would be unlikely that the court would agree. But obviously with the recent charges surely I stand a better chance?
