A Child Arrangement Order (CAO) is a court order which outlines and regulates with whom a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact, and when a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact with any person. A CAO can include a variety of specific issues tailored to your circumstances.

In most cases, mediation is compulsory prior to issuing proceedings. You will be required to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) and obtain a MIAM Certificate before applying to the Court, unless an exemption applies. This may include urgent safeguarding concerns such as a risk to life, liberty or the physical safety of your or your family or the application is urgent.

Parental Responsibility (PR) are all rights, duties, powers, resposibilities and authority that by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property. A mother of a child automatically have PR for their child. Fathers may also have PR depending on their marital status with the mother of his child. If mother and father were married to each other at the time of the child’s birth, they each have parental responsibility for the child. However, unmarried fathers can acquire PR in a number of ways such as if named on the birth certificate, by Court Order, Agreement, and subsequent marriage to the mother. PR Orders and Agreements can be obtained where needed. We can also assist where you may not be the biological parent to your child.

If there is no Child Arrangement Order (CAO) preventing the parent from removing the child from the UK and all parents with Parental Responsibility (PR) agree, you are able to take your child abroad. However, if a CAO is in place no person may remove a child from the UK without the written consent of every person who has PR unless permission is sought from the court. If you have concerns about this, we can assist you in acting quickly.

Breaching the terms of a Vhild Arrangement Order (CAO) is serious. A warning notice on the CAO sets out the consequences of failing to comply with the order. When a CAO is breached without a “reasonable excuse”, you can make a formal application for enforcement. The penalities the court may impose will depend on the nature of the breaches and how often they are occurring. (The court can order unpaid work, financial compensation, a fine, transfer of the child’s residence from one parent to the other and in most serious cases, the imprisonment of the uncooperative party.)