Role of the Family Court

From speaking with friends, family, clients, I’ve come to realise that there is a lot of mis-information when it comes to the role of the family courts for child arrangements and around the expectations on what they will provide to you.

Below is a brief outline on the process and what the family courts are here for and more importantly what they are not here for.

  • If you do need to go via the court process, the first step is to make an application to the court for a child arrangements order. It is called a C100 Court form and you can find all the information you need on the Government website.
  • A copy of your application will be sent to CAFCASS (Children and family courts advisory and support service). CAFCASS will contact you to discuss your application and discuss any worries/concerns you might have. They will speak to both parents, and also other services such as the police or social services, if they are involved.

Let’s pause here and take one step back. Before you make an application to the courts, you should have attended a MIAMs (Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting).

There are some circumstances where you might be exempt for attending a MIAMs, but judges always look at this carefully and if you should have attended one, your case will be stopped and you will be asked to go back and attend a session. The judge will have expected you to look at out of court negotiations, whether that’s mediation or another form of dispute resolution.

Back to the court process:

  • You will then have your First hearing dispute resolution appointment. The judge will have a letter from CAFCASS (Safeguarding letter or a Schedule 2 letter) which will outline each parents view and may set out some recommendation as to a way forward.

This first hearing is extremely important and the focus will be to assist the parents to come to an agreement for the benefit of the child.

  • If that’s not possible, there will be another hearing. There may be other evidence required or a report from CAFCASS. Parents need to understand that is can take months to collect the information required for the report.

Family courts are there to:

  • Help parents who can’t agree on arrangements for their child
  • First consideration is always given to the child
  • Only look at matters relevant to the welfare of the child

Family courts are NOT there to:

  • Act as a referee between the parents
  • Give an opinion on who is to blame for the end of the relationship
  • Decide if the other parent is a good or bad person
  • Take sides or give preference to any party

Family courts position

The family courts believe that parents of children are usually the best people to make the right decisions for their child and that court should be the last resort. The more you go back to court, the less control you have to make those decisions for your child. Any delay in resolving issues around children is likely not to be in their best interests.

Even if you have been to court or are going through the court process, you can still negotiate with the other parent, it is never too late. I will not discuss the cost implications here but the costs of litigation will always be significantly more than coming to a resolution outside of court.

If you do need to go via the court process, the most important aspect is to go in with the mindset that you want to resolve issues which is in the best interests of your child.

It is family mediation this week and there is a lot of information and sessions running to inform people on the benefits and role of mediation in the dispute resolution space. You can find out more about Family Mediation Week here: https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/fmw/