Statement of evidence or Witness statement
The purpose of a statement of evidence or witness statement is to provide relevant facts.
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Position statement
A position statement is a written statement setting out your views on the application in relation to the child. For example, a judge may ask you to write a position paper to understand your position on how contact is progressing or on the CCO’s report.
Position statements should provide the judge with a brief written record of your position and can help to identify or narrow the issues in dispute or may assist in reaching an agreement. It can also help the judge to understand the practical and child-focused issues and set out what you want to achieve at the hearing.
In your position statement, you can set out the arrangements for the child that you believe are in their best interests. As you do this, you should consider the Welfare Checklist – see Welfare Checklist. Remember, the judge is required to consider the Welfare Checklist when they decide the case.
Generally, the position statement should be brief (one or two A4 pages) and should detail the relevant history or background of the proceedings and any concerns and issues.
If you have been asked to prepare a position statement you may use this downloadable template to help with formatting and structure.
When should I prepare a position statement?
The judge will tell you the date by which your position statement should be delivered to the court (or ‘filed’) and sent to the other party (or ‘served’).
How to write a position statement?
A position statement should be brief and the content should be:
- Child-focused - be clear and reasoned about the child arrangements you are asking for;
- Easy to understand - write clearly so that your meaning can be easily understood;
- True and accurate - what you write in your statement must be true and accurate;
- Written in a factual way using appropriate language - avoid opinion, speculation and guess work, and avoid aggressive, confrontational, accusatory and emotional language. For example, if you think that something previously said is not correct, refer to it as ‘untrue’ or ‘incorrect’ and not as ‘lies’;
- Realistic and practical in what you are requesting.
Consider including:
- whether you want to raise any issues about the CCO report with the judge;
- whether the judge should consider further investigation of something;
- if there is a need for an expert and why.
Submitting your position statement
You should submit (‘file’) the position statement to the court.
You should send a copy to the other parties in the case. If they have legal representation then you should send it to their legal representative.
If you email the document, ask the other party to confirm that they have received it.
If you send it by post, you may want to obtain proof of postage.
If you hand deliver the document to the other party, you may want to obtain a receipt.
You should also send it to any relevant welfare officers, in accordance with the judge’s instructions. If you cannot remember the judge’s instructions, you should contact the court office, email in the first instance, cite the case number and ask them to clarify the judge’s directions - see NICTS contact details or Court office emails.
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