Heres the thing
So here’s the thing, went through the final hearing on the 16th May 2014, a day that will go down in infamy with my now ex wife. I can hear her now, infamy, infamy, they have all got it in for me! she will whine on this one for years, until eternity. On the other hand, I had a very pleasant day.
Where to start….! At the begining is always a good place, so lets start at the very beginning!
As usual with the other side, it was fun and games in terms of the document bundle for submission to the court for the final hearing. They were tasked with putting the document bundle together and submitting to the court in the last court order. Accordingly I had to forward thoughts and documents that I wished to use and I then get told, a week before the hearing that they would not allow some of my evidence to be be submitted in the document bundle, owing to a supposed deadline for submission passing.
The draft document bundle that I was sent was yet another try on. Glaring omissions from start to finish, which was quite clear in that some of my correspondence to them and indeed applications to the court, referred to several documents that were not included in the bundle. Amazingly documents that they thought showed me in a bad light, were included but no documents were included that had prompted some of my correspondence to them. An example of that would be my forthright response to them not bothering to submit documents to the court on time.
The document bundle should be a factual record of all documents submitted relating to the case that all parties wish to rely on at the final hearing. It also serves as an overview of argument and evidence for the judge to read before the hearing, in order to be up to speed so to speak, for the hearing. For a solicitor to police the document bundle in their favour ,or to attempt to gain advantage through deliberate omission is an absolute no no. But then this is exactly what I have dealt with at every step of the way, to date!
I spoke to the court who advised that I just bring it along for the hearing, which kind of sounded a little hit and miss to me. I went onto the internet and read that it is up to the judge to decide on evidence submission right up to the actual hearing. If a judge deems that the evidence has merit, has a bearing on the case and is important, it is their perogative to allow it. Accordingly I made an application to the court for the evidence to be allowed owing to its merit and importance to my case.
The judge agreed to hear my evidence submission prior to the final hearing and set out a hearing notification to that effect which was served on both parties. The final hearing was to follow on immediately after the evidence hearing.
On the hearing date, I arrived at the court some 15/20 minutes before the evidence hearing and got snapped at by the court usher, that she had been advised that I was not coming to the hearing owing to my lateness and that the judge had been advised of this. I advised her that she was incorrect and pulled out the evidence hearing paperwork which showed quite clearly that I had checked in on time. The court usher agreed with this. I asked her how she had arrived at the conclusions that she had and she advised that the other sides solicitor had told her this and that I should have checked in 30 mins before the hearing.
There’s a surprise. A solicitor misleading someone, how unusual! I explained to the court usher that she had been played and advised her that had this been just a final hearing, I would have had to check in 30 mins before the hearing, or and amount of time set by the judge in a court order. Owing to this in fact being a hearing on if or not evidence could be submitted, I had checked in on time. I also pointed out that the other sides solicitor knows full well the procedure and that he had used her to make a point. I do not think she was impressed with the other sides solicitor. As it turned out, I suspect that the judge was also unimpressed.
Do you know what “the other sides solicitor” is rather long winded, I wonder should we come up with a single word to use instead hmmm!. I can think of one and from the look that the court usher gave, I think she would also have a word in mind!
Ok so normal service resumed and the other side hell bent on getting me angry again, as per all the other hearings. They even shoved a bundle of papers in my hand just prior to the time of going into the hearing and of course I gave them the benefit of my thoughts on them and how they conduct themselves. As with all previous hearings they tried to destabilise me in order that I get angry and emotional and as on previous occasions, they hoped I would lose it with the judge.
I was annoyed and we were running late so I decided to have a bit of fun at their expense and proceeded to wind the solicitor up. I decided to act all calm and good humoured and sat and wrote a poem, making certain that I read each couple of lines and verses to myself and laughing to myself so that he could see. He was sat immediately opposite me and could not miss the merriment. This went on for 20 minutes or so until we got called in but it was a beautiful moment, he looked bemused, confused and did not know what was going on. I kind of got a Darth Vader look, you know the one he gave before he went over to the dark side, lol.
Yes he was well wound and when I asked the court usher about the protocol of if or not I could take my jacket of in court, she asked him and he snapped back that he, meaning me, would have to ask the judge, which I did and which she agreed to. No biggie. The really funny thing is that the poem was not that great!
So in we go into the judges chamber or court, call it what you will and the judge apologises for the lateness but that it was owing to her reading extensively the file and reading the notes and documents. The other sides solicitor is doing his thing all preening and look at me crap and the Judge turns to direct comments to me regarding my conduct in the actions that I had taken in respect of my family and how she agreed with those sensible actions. Without directly saying it, she made it very clear that she believed that I had done all that I had said and we then got on with the final hearing.
Her solicitor objected to the submission of my additional evidence and the Judge said that she was accepting it, as it appeared top her that it was for most part, very relevant. My soon to be ex wife’s solicitor was not preening quite so much after Judges opening remarks and her decision on the evidence. Was it me or was he becoming less cock sure of himself as each minute passed by. To make matters worse for him I had come up with an offset argument that the judge accepted. An argument that he did not think I was capable of coming up with and an argument that he had no answer to.
Still at this stage I can not go into any case detail but in a nutshell I came out of it very very well and on balance I think the judge got it bang on. The financial settlement is very fair given historical circumstances. The judge had a bit to say to their side regarding the document bundle, “very nice presentation but inaccurate” incorrect and missing documents I noted the tone. After the judgement was delivered, the judge also pointedly remarked that Mr Stone has some even more good news regarding a revised medical prognosis.
The judge then proceeded to go through and complete the actual divorce formalities (yea!) and that was it. Floating on a cloud was never quite so good, not a care in the world, here we go:
I meander and float upon a big white cloud
I have no thoughts in my head, yet I speak aloud
To all that pass by I shout out to share my views
I am divorced I needed to shout aloud the news!
To summarize, they lost big time. They lied, mislead and broke procedures throughout the proceedings. They asked for a settlement that was completely out of order given the actual history. They attempted to use the divorce laws to their own ends and got caught out. In effect I beat a partner level solicitor, or was it that his own arrogance and underestimation of an adversary, beat him? All the time I was emoting and losing it in court, did he get played? who knows! who cares? – I do!
My faith in the law has taken infantile steps towards being restored. From my experiences with the three Judges in this case and from a previous experience, these Judges are nobodies fools. If the law was to be applied as solicitors behave, then heaven help us. Were it not for the Judges, I dread to think!!
Like most people I believe in behaving in a moral and lawful manner and I desperately want the law and how it is applied, to reflect that. From this experience I believe that the Judges do for most part achieve that, irrespective of how solicitors behave. So I think the law is fair and does work, what does not work is how the law is currently practised and it is this that has to change.
Lets re-educate solicitors in order that they actually practice the law correctly, rather than use it to over charge people. Lets also make them more accountable and to that end this blog will continue as I intend taking action against my ex wife’s solicitor. The damage this guy knowingly did to me will be answered to and then some. Instead of practising the law in a fair and just manner, in order that an equitable solution be achieved, he chose to go to war and he made it very personal.
The manner that this case was conducted in caused an attempt at me ending my life, not a chance of wishing my ex wife well, in fact on the contrary, the loss of future relationships with my daughters who allowed this to happen to the extent that it did and as it did and are therefore complicit and the loss of two grand children, one aged eight and another just arrived at 6 weeks old.
This did not need to and should not have happened.
As for the crap poem that wound the solicitor and maybe saved me a lot of money!
The Court Proceedings/Judgement
I sit and watch other people, as their fates will soon reveal
The silent dread etched on their faces, perhaps their lives are set to steal
The silent frowns give away concerns their case may soon go wrong
To recover from such an unfair blow test their characters, they must be strong
The judge’s view will soon be heard a judgement delivered with stoic belief
The parties on the winning side whoops of joy and sighs of relief
The parties on the losing side upset, morose and down
As they walk out from the court on their faces set a frown
What will they do, they are well down their bodies weep and wail
Themselves pick up and dust right down emoting is of no avail
Screw the court and screw the Judge who clearly did not understand
Blame that sneaky solicitor Who’s tactics were underhand
