How to Write a Declaration of Facts to Submit to the Court
When parents appear in Court they are handed a report written by a CPS social worker. It states social services side of the court case.
Who writes a similar report explaining the parents’ side of the case to the judge?
The answer is, usually, nobody.
Legal documents explaining the parents’ side aren’t written because they have a solicitor that in general, often don’t care enough to take the time to produce legal documents. Many of these solicitors receive a flat fee per case so there’s no financial motivation for providing an aggressive defence for the parents.
Justice, by Pierre Subleyras
This is why we often suggest to parents to apply to the court themselves and represent themselves for at least the first few hearings. As a litigant in person, you can get away with a multitude of sins that you would never get away with if you are represented by a solicitor. As a L.I.P. you can send your evidence in with your application. Normally this wouldn’t be allowed but the judge has to give leeway to you as someone who has no legal training. Once the evidence is with the judge you can go ahead and get yourself a solicitor. Offer the solicitor copies of what you have given to the judge and force your solicitor to represent you the way you want to be represented not the way they want to represent you.
Most often, solicitors in the family Court simply guide the parents through the hearings and advise them to sign a section 51, or a plea or stipulation of some kind, which implicates them as being guilty. If the parent’s sign (most do because their solicitor is advising it) there will be no fact-finding – no opportunity for them to protest their innocence or defend themselves. Without a fact-finding hearing, there’s never going to be a time when the CPS social worker has to prove the local authorities case.
So what should CPS victim-parents do to counteract the problem of having a solicitor who won’t aggressively defend them?
We advise that parents write a letter to their solicitors to let them know what is expected of them. Get this on paper and keep a copy. If the solicitor refuses to at least attempt to provide an adequate defence you’ll have proof that you requested one, and can sue in civil court for legal malpractice. Let’s hope your solicitor’s problem never gets to that point.
Now I’ll explain what you can do to start the process off right – and that is to write your own legal document to give to the solicitor. This document is called a “declaration of facts” and will state your side of the case. You can request that your solicitor present this to the court so the judge will read it prior to making any decisions.
Your solicitor is bound to have some opinion on this. Work it out with him or her and keep in mind that though the court-appointed solicitor usually doesn’t want to do the work to produce legal documents in your defence, they may have excellent advice regarding what you’ve written. They usually are not intentionally against you but tend to prefer to negotiate with the other side. So rather than fighting your corner, they end up playing devils, advocate. It cuts out a lot of work on your case for the fee they receive.
When writing your declaration of facts, keep two things in mind:
1. NEVER write any self-incriminating statements into your declaration as this can be used against you. You’re trying to prove your innocence, and not give evidence to prove your guilt.
2. Keep it as brief as possible. The judge is far more likely to read it happily and thoroughly if your sentences are short and to the point, and if no unnecessary information is included. Brevity is golden when writing court documents. You want the judge to like you, not hate you because your statement was too long. Focus in on the most important issues and leave out everything else.
3. Leave out anything that is in the past and about how you were treated by your ex. This is about your child and their relationship with the other parent not the other parents relationship with you.
Here is a simple format for your declaration of facts, which should be double-spaced.
…
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Declaration of Facts
I, ______________________________, state:
(Your Name)
1. I am the mother/father of three children: (Names of kids.)
2. This declaration is being written (state reason for writing the declaration of facts – for example, “in support of a motion to return children to mother” or, “to explain my side of the case to the court”.
3. This is in reference to (Case Name, Case Number, Date Filed and the name of the court.)
4. (Just state facts one at a time… I’ll give some examples.) On June 2, 2002 I let my children go to school as usual and while they were there a CPS employee interviewed them without letting me know first.
5. There were no witnesses to this interview and to my knowledge no recording was made.
6. My children were detained by the CPS employee and I was not notified by the school so by 4:30 when they didn’t come home from school I was worried about them and called the school to find out if they knew anything.
7. At first nobody wanted to tell me where my kids were and the phone was handed to three different people. Finally the principal got on the line and told me that CPS took my three kids because my son, Johnny, had a bruise on his arm and said I did it.
8. The bruise happened because he climbed the apple tree and then got scared and couldn’t get down. I climbed up there and grabbed him and had to lower him down by his arm and that’s how he got bruised.
9. By the time I got off the phone with the principal of the school, it was only a few minutes before five PM so I called CPS but only got a recording and nobody would answer. It was Friday and I couldn’t get through to them all weekend and even went to the office twice but it was closed. That was why I didn’t check on them for two days – not because I didn’t care which is what the worker, Judy Jones, made it sound like in court on Wednesday.
10. I haven’t seen my children in three weeks because they say I’m a danger to them. This is not true. In fact most of what they say about me is not true which is why I’m contesting the charges and asking for a full trial to make them try to prove their untrue statements.
11. The CPS employees I talk to on the phone are extremely rude to me. They are Judy Jones and her supervisor, Mr Smith. Judy Jones said very sarcastically: “You should never have had kids if you were going to hurt them. People like you make me sick.” This woman, Judy Jones, won’t believe this happened in the apple tree.
12. I am requesting a court order for the return of my children immediately.
[NOTE: This last part should state the exact words used, just change the date and place to match your circumstance.]
Executed January 1, 2021 Town, County
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
_________________________________
