From my understanding and experience, the final hearing is the time when decisions are made and court orders are drawn up. Cross examination occurs at a contested hearing, which is what I definitely wanted to avoid and it didn’t go that far with me.
There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between solicitors and negotiation and compromise. The advice solicitor have me was to agree to any contact with my children that was offered and over time that contact will increase. Your children will make the decision in the end, and even though they may not belle enough to have a voice in court, your ex-partner will have to take notice of them.
My advice would be to always remain polite, courteous and extremely pleasant towards your ex-partner and her family. Even this seems impossible to do! Children tend to side with the “nice” parent not the “bitchy” parent.
If there’s been no s7 report, it appears you will encounter few problems with contact. We had a s7 report which came out overwhelmingly in my favour.
Anything else you want to know, please ask!