PA v MT

Facts

The parties began a relationship in 2012, married in 2016 and separated in February 2024, their child having been born in 2018. The father left the family home following police bail conditions imposed after a report by the mother, and a zonal exclusion order under the Family Law Act 1996 remained in force until April 2025. Private law proceedings began in April 2024 and, at an urgent first hearing in May 2024, contact was agreed and a non-molestation order continued by consent; the child now sees the father unsupervised three times a week. In November 2024 the court directed evidence on whether fact-finding was needed. In April 2025 the court accepted that a fact-finding hearing was required, removed two allegations from the mother's proposed schedule and permitted her to add a further one; at a later pre-trial review the court refused overnight staying contact as premature and determined that an expert psychological or psychiatric assessment was not necessary. After further extensions the hearing was relisted and reduced to three days by HHJ Willans as part of a London-wide strategy for the oldest cases. The mother alleged physical, verbal and threatening conduct, coercive and financial control, the concealment of weapons and harm to the child; the father alleged fabrication of allegations and breach of the contact agreement.