Children

Statement of Arrangements Form

When the form needs to be completed
You will need to complete this form if you and your spouse have any children who were treated as a Child of the Family who are:

Agreeing arrangements for the children with your spouse
You should endeavour to agree the contents of the Statement of Arrangements for Children with your spouse and if your spouse is in agreement, ask them to sign where stated on the back page (pg 8). The Court will send a copy of this form to your spouse in any event, along with the divorce petition and they will be asked to complete within the Acknowledgement of Service as to whether or not they agree with the proposals within the form. If they do not agree, they can make their own proposals and send it to the Court. If your spouse does this, the Court will send you a copy.

What will the Court do with the form?
The Court will consider the proposals (and counter proposals if appropriate) in relation to to the children when considering your application for Directions for Trial made to the Court with a view to obtaining a Decree Nisi (the first part of the divorce).

If the Judge is satisfied with the arrangements for the children (it is usually on the basis that they have been agreed), you will be sent a form by the Court and this will tell you that the Court does not need to exercise its powers under the Children Act 1989 as it is happy with the arrangements.  

If the Judge is not satisfied with the arrangements proposed for the children, he/she may, in some circumstances, suggest that you cannot obtain your Decree Absolute until satisfactory arrangements are made and may ask for further information about the children, or fix a short appointment for you both to attend before the Judge, normally in the Judge’s room to discuss the arrangements.  In some cases, the Court may wish for a welfare report will be prepared and if so the Court will contact you and your spouse to make an appointment to see you both and then provide a report in relation to the arrangements for the children.

I can’t reach agreement with my spouse and I want the Court to make an order
Finally, if you could not reach agreement and you believe the Court should make an Order in relation to the children, you can apply formally to the Court to make any of the following orders:-

1)       A Residence Order to determine where the children should live;
2)       A Contact Order to say who the children are allowed to see, directly or indirectly by way of letters, telephone  calls and how such contact takes place;
3)       A Specific Issue Order if you have a specific issue with respect to the children or want a specific question to be determined which may arise in connection with any aspect of your parental role for a child, for example deciding what surname the child should use;
4)       A Prohibited Steps Order if you want to prevent your spouse or any other named person from taking certain steps, for example from removing a child out of the jurisdiction or seeking a matter about their schooling.

In order to make any of the above Orders you must apply for the Order on form C1 (or form C2 if there have been any previous court proceedings). You can obtain a blank form from the Court.  The Court will only make an Order if it considers that an Order would be better for the children than no Order at all.

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