Child Arrangement Orders

Along with negotiating your financial settlement, making arrangements for your children is the most significant part of the divorce process.

Based in our offices in Coventry city centre our highly experienced Family Law Solicitors will help you and your partner work out where and with whom your children should live and how often the non-resident parent will have access.

We are alive to the fact that although your relationship may be over, you and your partner will be parents forever. Therefore, we put considerable focus into helping you work out arrangements in a calm way.

We are a diverse, multi-lingual law firm that uses best-in-class technology to provide clients with streamlined, modern, and highly effective family law advice and representation. Our years of experience in family law means we have a robust reputation for excellence with the UK’s best Barristers and King’s Counsel, Forensic Accountants, Independent Financial Advisers, Surveyors, Actuaries, and Counsellors who can bring additional support to our family law department if required. Our clients also benefit from our ability to instruct the country’s most respected expert witnesses.

Our family law ethos

Our Family Solicitors are members of Resolution, an organisation of family law professionals who believe a non-confrontational approach to family law disputes produces better long term outcomes. Our team abides by Resolution’s Code of Practice and work to resolve disputes through round table negotiation and mediation. However, if Court proceedings prove inevitable, you can trust that we will fight tenaciously to get the best possible results for you and your children.

Our highly intelligent and compassionate Solicitors have received training on dealing with the emotional impact of divorce and disputes around arrangements for children. If you are finding things difficult, we can refer you to support agencies and counsellors that can help you. Our team, which include trained Mediators and members of the Law Society’s Children’s Law Panel, are here to help you when life takes an unexpected turn and get the results you need to move on to a positive future.

Below are some of the most common questions we are asked about arrangements for children following a divorce, dissolution, or separation.

Do I have to go to Court to make arrangements for my children after divorce?

The English family law system is focused on supporting parents to decide between themselves who their children will predominantly live with and when the other parent will have access. Court proceedings are expensive and stressful and may increase animosity between you and your ex-partner. Studies show that when parents are left to decide amongst themselves on how their children are cared for, the solutions they agree on are more likely to stick compared to those imposed by the Court. We are committed to helping you work out arrangements for your children without going to Court.

However, if you are in a situation where alternative disputes resolution methods such as negotiation and mediation are not appropriate (for example, you are the victim of domestic abuse) we will meticulously prepare for your Court proceedings and fight tenaciously to achieve the outcome you want.

What is a Parenting Plan?

If you have worked out arrangements for your children, you may want to consider having a Parenting Plan drafted by our Child Arrangement Solicitors. A Parenting Plan sets out what you and your ex-partner have agreed and can be as detailed or concise as you like. It can include, for example:

who your children will live with (the resident parent)
when they will spend time with the non-resident parent and with extended family (grandparents, aunties, uncles)
whether shared care will take place and how it will be achieved
child maintenance payments
how to agree on issues around your children’s education, religious education, mental health, and healthcare
how you, as parents, will talk and share information in the future
how you will divide up school holidays, Christmas, birthdays etc
how you might introduce new partners into the children’s lives
how you will deal with any disputes that arise

A Parenting Plan is not legally binding unless you both voluntarily want it to be. You will need to obtain a Court Order to achieve this. Our Solicitors can review your Parenting Plan and explain the consequences of making it legally binding.

Why choose us?

Years of experience has taught us that people and circumstances change. What you agree now concerning your children may not work in two, three, or five years time. We are always available to help you and your partner overcome disputes that may develop unexpectedly.

People choose and recommend us not just in Coventry, Nuneaton, Rugby and Leamington, but across the Midlands and the whole of the UK, because we care about them, their children, and their future. We are focused on results and achieving them in the most cost-effective, non-confrontational way possible. Our Family Law Solicitors will take care of your legal concerns so you can focus on yourself and your children.

To talk to us about making arrangements for your children following your divorce, please contact us using the form below, call us on Coventry (02476) 231000, email enquiries@askewslegal.co. or visit us at our city centre offices in Coventry.