When a separated or divorced couple cannot agree on the amount of contact that the parent not living with the child should have with their offspring, a contact order can be obtained from the Family Court. This order normally stipulates the number of hours per week that the child can stay with the other parent, and often a set day or night.
Are Contact Orders Only Issued If The Parents Can’t Agree?
Usually this is the case but there are occasions when the children involved don’t think they are spending enough time with the other parent. It may also be necessary to implement a contact order if one parent is spending too much with a child or is not returning them to their home at the right times.
Check your legal rights as a parent on education, health and welfare decisions.
Try our Parental Rights Checker free, here on this site →Do Contact Orders Cover Visits Only?
A contact order can be issued if the parent not living with the child feels that their visiting time is not long enough or not often enough. If this is the case, then the parent not living at home may ask that he or she be allowed to converse with their child by telephone perhaps once or twice a week to break up the periods between visits.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
On What Grounds are Contact Orders Issued?
Contact orders are issued if there is no sign of agreement between two arguing parents. More often than not the child will find that they are being used as a weapon against the other parent, so the magistrate will issue a contact order to ensure that arguments over visiting rights are not part of the overall equation.
Can Contact Orders Be Changed or Cancelled?
Yes, they can but as with any order issued by a magistrate it must be changed or cancelled by them during a hearing at which both parents must satisfy his or her requirements. A contact order can be changed if both parents come to an agreement as to visiting and wish to make it official, or the order can be cancelled if there is a reconciliation between both parents. The magistrate will be interested primarily in the best interests of the child and will not make any snap decisions.
The magistrate may ask that a court liaison officer visit the family home to undertake an assessment, and also speak with the child (or children) involved to ascertain their feelings on the situation.
For more information, contact a solicitor who specialises in Family Law; you will find them listed in your local directories and also online.
Now children starting school dad decided to arrange child minder to look after when children in his care and he saying he working every day.
I have told him I Can take children to school and pick them up and change the working hours he is not willing to do that .
Please advice me is father able to do this if mother willing to look after children.
Not got for children taking from mum and keeping in care of child minder not even in his care please let me know what to do .
Thanks
K
As my daughter goes to school and I live 70 miles from where she lives we started collecting her after school on the Friday and pick up times varied on the Sunday.
My ex is now insisting that we stick to the timings on the court order and being very demanding and manipulative.
I have said that if we are sticking to the court order then we need to stick to the days as well as the times; alternatively she needs to be flexible with the timing of pick up on the Sunday as I’m losing 24hrs of time with my daughter and we could amend the court order however she is point blank refusing.
My question is if I arrange a tutor for the Fridays then am I allowed to pick up my daughter on the Thursday?
He has now said he’s taking me to court, will he get granted weekends because he works away ? We are not amicable at all, it’s become very bad between us. I am worried I won’t get any weekends with my children. He has a drink driving conviction, also has two other children that he doesn’t see or pay for will this be taken into consideration ? He also isn’t regular with maintenance, he has arrears to pay me through the child maintenance service and also arrears to pay another mother of another child he doesn’t see. Will any of this affect the courts decision?
He wants to have the children two nights per week and two days but only on weekends, they attend full time school and I work so there is no quality time in the week with them will this be taken into consideration?
We are in stage two of a complaint procedure and we will follow through to the ombudsman if needed. Is there anything more we can consider? We strongly feel we have been marginalised, there are many other reasons for this that will make a long posting even longer. Any suggestions are welcome.
I have a court contact order dated October 2008, when my son was 3 years old,which is therefore not being adhered to anymore.
My child maintenance is being calculated as shared care because of this old contact order even though my son is no longer going and I therefore have him full time. How do I dispute this and can the contact order be cancelled? It's now only being used with regard to child maintenance payments and nothing more...
I'm worried that a contact order will be granted in a contact centre.
As I fill it's not in my granddaughter best interests as mother's still smoking cannabis still not dealt with her anger issues any advice as due back in June.
Ask Law and Parents a question
Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.
You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.
Comments are moderated before publication.