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Urgent free legal help/experience stories required?

I would make a nice drink before reading this it’s a long one I would be very interested to hear from any legal eagles or anyone who has experienced similar problems especially links to free web sites which deal with the content of the question/s. I am especially interested in time frames, court processes etc warts & all so my daughter can prepare herself. I would ask that only facts are given and not theories. My daughter and her 2 year old son moved into a council house in February. Shortly afterwards her partner, I’ll call him David, decided to give up his council flat and move in with them. There have been problems with the relationship in the past to which end David’s out reach worker set up a CAF agreement. Part of that agreement was that David would not touch drugs and would not touch alcohol, he can’t because of his medication, if he has alcohol he can become difficult which was proven last year with a court case which fortunately had nothing to do with my daughter or their child. David had been getting very awkward with my daughter recently and she thought it best to come home for a couple of days. This was Friday of last week. On Saturday David came round to our house and it was obvious he had been on something I have never seen him like it but it wasn’t nice. I managed to calm him down and sent him home back to the council house. I told him that my daughter would speak to him on the Sunday. Sunday lunch time came round and my wife took my daughter back to see David. She left them to it but when she heard David raising his voice she decided that was time to get my daughter out of there. I was at home with the grandson at the time which was a good thing because what happened next was David stood in front of the car refusing to let my wife and daughter leave. My daughter said she was phoning the police. He moved and said if she did he would kill himself. He admitted to my daughter that he had taken drugs during the week previous to this and had, had alcoholic drinks. My wife and daughter arrived home and both of them were shaking it was at this point I told my wife to call the police. This was not only to report the incident so the police had a number should any subsequent problems occur but also to report his threat of suicide so that my wife and daughter were covered should he decide to carry out his threat. The police managed to contact David and he was safe and well. Now we have his family asking why my wife called the police- unbelievable! My daughter now finds herself and her son at our house as she cannot face going back to the property he is still in. He is not a tenant and is not on the tenancy agreement he is just logged by the council as staying there my daughter is the sole tenant oh and her son. Even after everything that has happened she does not want to see David as another statistic on the streets and is going to give him time to quit the property, max one week from today. She will tell him that he then has a month to move his stuff out. 1.What should be the content of the letter she needs to write to him so that he gets the message she wants him out and how does she record this I thought registered mail would be a good option so he has to sign for receiving it. Any other ideas? 2.Because my daughter cannot trust David any more she wants him to have supervised visits with the grandson on neutral ground how does she go about this. 3.My daughter wants to stop David from visiting the council house, our house and the play group how does she do this. 4.His other grandmother, David’s mum, sees her grandson on regular occasions. My daughter does not want this to happen at David’s mum’s house anymore but is still willing to let his grandmother see him at the daughters’ house. How does she do this? 5.I asked to speak to David’s out reach worker today and he asked to speak to my daughter. My daughter spoke to the out reach worker and he upset my daughter by suggesting that David and my daughter should have a meeting to come to some sort of an agreement. She told him absolutely not and that she had put up with enough from David. She finally burst into tears and gave me the phone. David’s out reach worker then tried the same trick on me by saying that David would be homeless. I said no he wouldn’t he has a sister nearby, a brother nearby, a mother nearby oh and a father in Spain. His out reach worker explained that David cannot stay with any of them to which I said hang on you expect my daughter to stay at ours and carry on paying rent on a property she cannot use while David is in it but his family won’t do anything to help him out. The out reach worker finally got the message when I told him that my daughter would not be renewing her relationship with David and that on Wednesday she went to the Job centre to cancel all joint claims. I think he got the message. Is there a body I can complain to about this out reach workers working practice? My daughter is not th is not hte guity party david is! How can my daughter put a stop to the CAF I still think the out reach worker was in the wrong his suggestion to my daughter nad to me, all though he was trying to be clever enough not to say it directly, was for my daughter to give David a chance. As far as my daughter was concerned he had used his chances up. For his out reach worker to also suggest that David stays in the house while my daighter pays for it is beyond belief!

Public Comments

1. you need to pay £75 and get a solicitor to send a letter to David telling him to leave and outlining visiting rights-thats an official doc and would need signed for. you hold no weight alone. contact the outreach worker via recorded delivery and ask formally for their complaints procedure and take it from there. wouldnt hurt to speak to the solicitor about it either
2. I don't know what a CAF is? But I can sympathise entirely- I had similar trouble with a legal woman over custody arrangements - she fell for my ex's charming lies hook, line and sinker. I don't know all the answers to this, but here are some to start you off. Firstly your daughter needs to contact the council. She needs to explain only that 'David' is no longer welcome (she can claim violence or threats, that would be enough) and she must ask the council to change the locks so that she can go back in. She should ask about a security alarm for the property, something she can use if the need arises- that will make them realise she needs new locks as a minimum. She will need to go with them to the property when they change the locks (or meet them there , outside) to retake possession. At that point she makes 'David' homeless (see below). It is counterproductive to tell him this in advance- since he is the only one there he has all the time in the world to wreck the place- which neither the council nor your daughter wants to happen. Your daughter is not responsible for housing 'David' - the council is. If she throws him out tonight then by the morning he will have a cosy room in a hostel. It is his fault for leaving his council flat in the first place - a very foolish move on his part. So the minute the locks are changed she should throw him out /exclude him. Any reluctance on her part will jeopardise his chances of being fast -tracked into a council flat again - something his outreach worker can usefully arrange for him. My daughter wants to stop David from visiting the council house, our house and the play group how does she do this. - Ask in the police station about this- there is a thing you can do through the court for minimal outlay. I forget what it is called. For the longer term- think carefully about access. He has already indicated a complete disregard for life by threatening to take his own, and clearly if he is still doing drugs he cannot take even the most basic responsibility for safety of a minor. You may not have seen the stories in the media of fathers taking the lives of their children, but I have and it cracks me up every time. Under the present circumstances I would insist on him having no access at all. He is too volatile in this situation. Review in 3 months.
3. My friend's case took about two years but that's because they were married, he had a very good legal aid lawyer, and he made things very difficult for her. She had free legal advice which was excellent, but she eventually had to pay a lawyer to handle her case because it got complicated and she kept getting tearful in court. Cost her a fortune. He had a history of substance misuse. 1. Since his name is not on the tenancy, she can kick him out at any time. If she wants to give him notice, she can write a letter (sent special/recorded delivery) telling him her reason(s) and when she expects him to be out. Also send a copy to his outreach worker so they can arrange alternative accommodation for him. 2. If his substance misuse is affecting the child, she can request this in court. http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/advice-support-40/single-parents-support-45/241912-supervised-access.html has some good pointers. 3. Apply to the court for an injunction. See http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-survivors-handbook.asp?section=000100010008000100330002 4. Is David's mother a danger to her grandson? Your daughter can request that David not be at his mother's home when his son is there. 5. Unless there's more to this story, the outreach worker did nothing wrong. He only made a suggestion and a very good one at that. Your daughter getting emotional only shows that what the outreach worker said was not what she wanted to hear. If you want to cancel the CAF, speak to David's outreach worker. David is not entirely to blame. He has an excuse for his unreasonable behaviour - he has a history of substance misuse, something your daughter was well aware of before she allowed him to move into the home she shares with their son. With free legal advice, you only get help up to a point and then you have to start paying. If you still want to go through the legal route, you could get some free legal advice at http://www.relationshiplawyer.co.uk/ . You can try The Bar Pro Bono Unit at http://www.barprobono.org.uk/ for free legal representation. Good luck!