Child Arrangement Orders

What you can do will vary depending upon each individual situation. 

Arrangements can be agreed between parties themselves, or with the assistance of solicitors of other third parties such as mediators.     

Where arrangements for a child cannot be agreed or previously agreed arrangements have been breached, an order of the court may be best course of action. A Child Arrangement Order makes arrangements clear and legally binding going forwards and gives you the clarity and security that these arrangements will be adhered to. 

Book your free 15 min consultation with our legal team to find out how we can help.

Parental responsibility is essentially all of the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities which by law the parent of a child has in relation to the child and their property.

A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth.

A father has parental responsibility if he’s either:

• Married to the child’s mother; or 
• Listed on the birth certificate.

A parent can also make an application to the court for parental responsibility if they do not automatically have it.

Before applying for a Child Arrangement Order, you must attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (“MIAM”) and invite your former partner to also attend, unless an exemption applies.

At a MIAM, a mediator discusses the dispute with each party and assesses whether other forms of dispute resolution that occur outside of the court processes can assist in resolving the dispute.

If the other party refuses to attend the MIAM, an exemption applies, or a mediator considers that none of the other methods of dispute resolution are suitable or appropriate, an application can be made to the court.

The court fee for making the application is £232.

The court may regulate a child’s living arrangements by making any of the following orders:

• Naming one person with whom a child is to live;
• Naming two people who live in the same household together as persons with whom the child is to live (these are usually made in favour of stepparents); or
• Naming two persons who live in different households as persons with whom the child is to live; these arrangements do not have to be equal.

The court may regulate a child’s living arrangements by making any of the following orders:

• Naming one person with whom a child is to live;
• Naming two people who live in the same household together as persons with whom the child is to live (these are usually made in favour of stepparents); or
• Naming two persons who live in different households as persons with whom the child is to live; these arrangements do not have to be equal.

When considering whether to make an Order, the court will not do so unless satisfied that doing so would be better for the child than making no order at all.

The court will consider all of the circumstances of the matter when making a Child Arrangement Order, with the court’s primary consideration being the welfare of the children.

We charge a fixed fee for our service. That means you know exactly what you’re going to pay before starting the process, regardless of how long it lasts. Furthermore, we are a firm of regulated solicitors (regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority) meaning there are more protections for you as our client.

Your dedicated caseworker will do all the legal legwork for the full duration of your case. We will keep you informed of any changes and advise you on the next steps to ensure there are no surprises.

We offer a fixed-fee service to safeguard you from the mounting hourly fees that a traditional legal firm may surprise you with. We also believe it promotes a transparent relationship between our team and you, the client.