Divorce cases involving children can be heart breaking, especially if a dispute arises. If you are in dispute with your former partner over issues relating to your children, you may want to apply for a Court order under the 1989 Children Act. Here’s what a Children Act application involves.
A Children Act application can be made in relation to issues over where your child(ren) should live or how often you can see you child(ren) (contact). There may be a dispute over the permanent removal of a child from their current location or whether they should be known by another surname.
Children Act applications the process
All issues relating to children are governed by the Children Act 1989, which enables the Courts to make various orders, the most common of which tend to be Residence (aka Live With) and Contact orders.
When an application is made to the Court it will be listed for an ‘initial directions hearing’. During this hearing, the Court will determine what the issue is and decide how to progress your case.
It’s likely that there will be further hearings unless you and your former partner can reach an agreement at the initial directions hearing.
Mediation
However, as part of any Children Act application, the Court will expect you to have first explored family mediation as a means of resolving any dispute over your children.
Types of Children Act applications
If mediation has been unsuccessful, there are several types of Court Order you can apply for to resolve disputes involving your children.
Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 enables financial orders to be made for the benefit of your children. Such financial orders tend to be reserved for a parent not married to their partner, leaving them unable to seek a financial remedy following a separation under the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act.
Meanwhile, Section 8 orders include:
- Child Arrangement Orders
- Prohibited Steps Orders
- Specific Issue Orders
Child Arrangement Order
A Child Arrangement Order deals with arrangements as to where your child(ren) will live, the time each parent spends with them and who they can have contact with. The parent with whom the child(ren) lives must be able to make every day decisions regarding the upbringing of the child(ren).
If an Order is issued to a non-parent, they will be granted shared parental responsibility with the parent. However, the shared responsibility will be limited.
If a Child Arrangements Order is in force, no person can:
- Call the child(ren) by another surname
- Remove the child(ren) from the UK for more than a month without the consent of the other parent or the person who has parental responsibility or the leave of the Court
Prohibited Steps Order
A Prohibited Steps Order is an order that prohibits steps that could be taken by a parent that fall outside the grounds of meeting parental responsibilities. This type of Order is intended to deal with individual issues in a particular case and is meant to prevent a particular step from being taken.
One such example is an order preventing the removal of a child from the UK in a case where there is no Child Arrangements Order in force.
Specific Issue Order
A Specific Issue Order is granted by the Family Court when determining how a dispute over a child’s upbringing or wellbeing should be resolved. As the name suggests, it’s used for specific issues such as a child’s name, how they are educated and whether a child should receive certain medical treatments, among others.
Family Assistance Order
A Family Assistance Order is a ‘newer’ addition to the Children’s Act 1989. In family proceedings, the Court can make a Family Assistance Order requiring either a probation officer or a local authority officer, usually a social worker, to be made available to advise, assist and befriend any person named in the order.
This Order can only be made by the Court. However, they are very rarely used.
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