LEGAL EAGLE: Making arrangements for family time access to the child when couples are separated
I am currently in family court proceedings in relation to child arrangements with my ex-partner. The current court order states the children live with my ex-partner and spend time with me at the discretion of Children’s Services and upon agreement between me and my ex-partner due to some allegations my ex-partner has made about me. Children’s Services have confirmed that they agree to me spending time with my children, but I am struggling to agree arrangements with my ex-partner as they are being difficult.
A Child Arrangements Order states who the children live with and who they spend time with. The starting point for the court is that the children should have a relationship with both parents so long as it is safe to do so.
As your ex-partner is raising allegations about you, these will need to be investigated by CAFCASS or Children’s Services to ensure that the children are safe in your care. As your family time is at the discretion of Children’s Services, they should give a recommendation/opinion on what family time they believe to be in the children’s best interests.
As Children’s Services have confirmed that they agree to you spending time with your children, you would need to obtain the details about what kind of family time they agree to. This is in relation to whether it would be direct or indirect, supervised, or unsupervised and the quantity.
With this information you should be able to form a proposal to put to your ex-partner to see if an agreement can be made between you in relation to interim family time moving forward.
However, if an agreement cannot be made, your next option would be to make an application within the existing proceedings to ask for a court hearing to deal with the issue of family time. This is done on a C2 application form which can be accompanied by a statement to explain the reasons for which you are requesting the court hearing.
Your ex-partner would be invited to attend this hearing. It would also be beneficial for the social worker to attend this hearing too so that the court can hear from them.
The court will then decide what interim family time should take place, taking into consideration what is best for the children after hearing the views of the parties and the Social Worker.
We at Ben Hoare Bell LLP have the appropriate expertise in assisting in such matters. Please contact us on 0191 565 3112 or [email protected] for advice.