Resolving disputes: contact orders
A contact order provides that a child is to visit or stay with someone, where arrangements for contact with a child are contested.
What does ‘contact’ mean?
A contact order may define what type of contact the person named should have. For example, the order may specify when and where contact should take place.
It may also specify that contact should only be indirect (for example through letters rather than personal contact) or that contact should be supervised by a third party (although this will generally be ordered only where there are concerns about a child’s safety).
Who can apply?
As with residence orders, certain categories of people (including legal parents, guardians, spouses/civil partners who have treated the child as a child of the family, and people who have lived with the child for at least three years) are entitled to apply for a contact order.
Anyone who does not fall into these categories (for example a grandparent) needs the court’s permission to apply. In deciding whether to give permission, the court will consider the applicants’ connection with the child and the risk of their application disrupting and causing harm to the child. It will also consider whether the applicant would have a good arguable case if he or she were allowed to apply for a contact order.
What are my chances of getting a contact order?
Every case depends on its own facts, and the court will consider the child’s welfare as its paramount consideration. As a general rule, contact with natural parents is usually presumed to be in the child’s best interests, while for other applicants (such as grandparents or step parents) the outcome may be less certain.
Please contact us for further advice on your own particular situation.
