Children and Divorce

The effects of divorce or separation on your children

Separation and divorce is without any doubt distressing and traumatic for children. In any separation or divorce the priority of the Law is the children’s welfare. Where appropriate you are encouraged to discuss with your partner the arrangements to be put in place for your children, you may not have to revert to the court or a lawyer because you are the best judges of what is right for your children.

If you do feel you need to speak to a solicitor we will give you impartial advice about where a child should live, contact arrangements and communication between parents. We can refer you to mediation or collaborative law and where appropriate family counselling. For further advice and information you can call our divorce and family solicitors team.

Residence

With whom and where a children should live.

The court can make such an Order in favour of more than one person stipulating how long the child should spend with each person, often referred to as shared care.

Contact

How often the non resident parent sees and speaks with the children. An agreement or order can be made that regulates the days, weekends, overnight stays, holidays and telephone calls.

Prohibited Steps

A prohibited steps order where one parent objects to something that the other parent is doing concerning their child, that parent can apply to the Court for the other person to stop doing it.

Specific issue order

A specific issue order - the Court can consider a specific issue if parents are unable to agree on a specific aspect of their child’s upbringing.

The Courts Protect a Child's Rights

Where there is a disagreement about the children, with which parent they should live for instance, or how often they should see the absent parent, the courts can investigate the dispute and can make certain Orders considered to be in the child's best interests. What the court is in fact doing is upholding the rights of the child, rather than the wishes of either parent.

Children of all ages now have the legal right, for instance, to see their absent parent for a reasonable amount of time each week, to stay with them overnight and to go on holiday with them. The courts will uphold this right save for in exceptional circumstances where it can be proven that such contact would not be in the child’s best interest.

Child Support

The Child Maintenance Services has largely replaced the courts role in assessing the appropriate level of child maintenance to be paid. This also means the role of the lawyer has been curtailed in this area. We can offer advice but if the other party does not agree then an application to the Child Maintenance Services has to be made.

The Courts residual role in child maintenance

The courts can now only make maintenance orders for children in a limited number of cases:

• Where the parents both apply to the court for an ‘order by consent’ but this is limited in duration.
• Where a child is in full-time education and there are school fees to pay
• Where a child is undergoing vocational training or an apprenticeship and there are expenses to pay
• Where a child is disabled, and there are care costs
• Where the other parent lives abroad on a permanent basis

For more information or help with children matters contact one of our Divorce and Family Law Solicitors  or complete our enquiry form and we will get back to you immediately.