A child arrangement order is a court order under the Children Act 1989 that decides who a child lives with and who the child spends time with after parents or carers separate. It can also settle specific disputes about the child’s upbringing or block a parent from taking a particular action. The court’s guiding principle is fixed by statute: the child’s welfare is the paramount consideration, and a judge will not make an order at all unless doing so is better for the child than making none.1Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 – Welfare of the Child
What the Order Actually Covers
A child arrangement order answers two practical questions. The “lives with” part designates the child’s primary home, though a shared arrangement splitting time between two households is possible. The “spends time with” part sets out contact with the other parent, which can include overnight stays, daytime visits, and indirect contact such as video calls or letters.
The level of detail is up to the court and the parties. Some orders lay down a precise weekly timetable with handovers, weekend patterns, and holiday rotations. Others say only that the child will have “reasonable contact” and leave parents to work out the specifics. Detailed orders tend to work better where the relationship between the parents is high-conflict, because there is less room to argue about what was agreed.
Specific Issue and Prohibited Steps Orders
Alongside the main living and contact arrangements, the court can make two related orders under the same section of the Act. A specific issue order settles a particular question about the child’s upbringing, such as which school the child should attend, whether the child should receive a particular medical treatment, or whether the child’s surname can be changed.2Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 – Section 8 A prohibited steps order stops a parent from doing something specific without the court’s consent. The most common use is preventing a parent from taking the child abroad, but it can also cover matters like changing schools or contact with a named individual. These are frequently dealt with in the same proceedings rather than through a separate application.
Who Can Apply
Biological parents, legal guardians, and step-parents who already hold parental responsibility can apply for a child arrangement order without asking the court’s permission first. A step-parent who gained parental responsibility through a formal agreement or court order falls into this automatic-right category.
Anyone else, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives, has to apply for the court’s leave before filing. Under Section 10(9) of the Children Act 1989, the court weighs the nature of the proposed order, the applicant’s connection to the child, the risk that the application itself could disrupt the child’s life, and, where the child is looked after by a local authority, the authority’s plans and the parents’ wishes.3Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 – Section 10 Leave is not a full trial on the merits, but grandparents in particular should come with evidence of a real existing relationship, because the court will not grant leave simply to allow one to develop.
Mediation Before Court
Most people must attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (a MIAM) before they can file. A certified mediator runs the session and decides whether the dispute could be resolved through mediation instead of litigation.4Family Mediation Council. What Is a MIAM If mediation is not suitable, or the other party refuses to take part, the mediator signs a certificate confirming that the requirement has been met. That certificate goes in with the court application.
The main exemption is domestic abuse. If you have a police report, a protective order, or other accepted evidence of abuse, you can skip the MIAM and file directly. Mediators will also exempt cases involving child protection concerns, urgent situations such as a risk that the child will be taken abroad, or cases where the other party is in prison. Mediation resolves a meaningful number of disputes at this stage, and a mediated agreement is cheaper and faster than a contested case.
How to Apply
The core form is the C100, filed with the family court. It asks for the child’s full name, date of birth, and current living situation, along with the details of everyone who holds parental responsibility, and it asks you to set out what orders you want and why.5GOV.UK. Form C100
Where there are safety concerns, a Form C1A goes in with the C100. This supplementary form asks you to describe specific allegations of domestic abuse, violence, or other harm to the child or a parent, and you should back these up with police reports, medical records, or records from social services.6GOV.UK. Form C1A – Allegations of Harm and Domestic Violence If no C1A is filed with the application, the respondent will be asked to complete one when they file their response, so allegations of harm come out either way.
Filing a C100 costs £232. If you are on a low income or receiving certain benefits, you can apply for a full or partial fee remission through the court’s Help with Fees scheme, which uses income, savings, and benefits thresholds to decide eligibility.7GOV.UK. Get Help Paying Court and Tribunal Fees Legal aid for child arrangement cases is heavily restricted. It is generally only available where there is evidence that the child is at risk of harm and the case involves domestic abuse, and even then you have to pass a means test and a merits test. For a straightforward dispute about living arrangements or contact, expect to fund the case yourself or through a private solicitor.
What Happens After You File
Once the C100 is with the court, the papers go to Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. A Cafcass officer runs safeguarding checks against police and local authority records and speaks to both parents before the first hearing to understand the dispute.8Cafcass. Overview of Cafcass Involvement in the Court Process
The first hearing, the First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment, is usually listed four to eight weeks after filing. It is not a trial. The judge reads the safeguarding report, identifies what is actually in dispute, and actively tries to help the parents reach agreement. If they can agree, the judge can make a consent order the same day and the case ends. A meaningful number of cases settle here once the dispute is laid out by a neutral party.
When agreement is not possible, the court typically orders a Section 7 welfare report. A Cafcass Family Court Adviser prepares it by meeting the child, spending time with each parent, and sometimes speaking to teachers, health workers, or other family members.9Cafcass. Section 7 Reports The adviser gathers the child’s wishes and feelings without asking the child to choose between parents, then makes recommendations to the court.10Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 – Section 7
The case may pass through one or more interim hearings to sort out evidence, procedural questions, and temporary arrangements for where the child lives in the meantime. If the parties still cannot agree, the case goes to a final hearing. The judge hears evidence from both sides, considers the Section 7 report, applies the welfare checklist, and makes a binding order. Complex final hearings can run for several days, though most are shorter.
How the Court Decides
In a contested case the judge works through a statutory welfare checklist in Section 1(3) of the Children Act 1989. It is not a scoring system; it is a structured way of weighing what matters to the child’s life.1Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 – Welfare of the Child The factors are:
- The child’s own wishes and feelings, considered in light of their age and understanding. A teenager’s views carry more weight than a toddler’s, but younger children’s views are gathered where possible.
- The child’s physical, emotional, and educational needs.
- The likely effect on the child of any change in circumstances. Disrupting an established home, school, or friendships counts against a proposed move unless the benefits clearly outweigh it.
- The child’s age, sex, background, and any characteristic the court considers relevant, including cultural heritage, language, and health.
- Any harm the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering.
- How capable each parent is of meeting the child’s needs, taking in practical ability, emotional availability, and willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent.
- The range of powers available to the court, so the judge can consider whether a different order, or no order at all, would serve the child better.
That last factor matters more than it looks. A judge may decide that a specific issue order or a prohibited steps order deals with the real dispute more precisely than a full child arrangement order.
Parental Responsibility and a “Lives With” Order
A “lives with” order carries a consequence that surprises many applicants. If a father or second female parent is named as the person the child lives with, and that parent does not already have parental responsibility, the court must make an order granting it.11Lexis Library. Children Act 1989 – Section 12 Parental responsibility is the right to make decisions about the child’s education, medical treatment, religious upbringing, and other significant matters. Mothers hold it automatically at birth, and so do married fathers. Unmarried fathers acquire it by being named on the birth certificate, by a parental responsibility agreement, or by court order — and a “lives with” child arrangement order is one route to that court order.
How Long the Order Lasts
A child arrangement order generally stays in force until the child turns 16. The court can extend it to 18 in exceptional circumstances, but that is uncommon and needs a specific justification. When the child reaches the relevant age, the order lapses automatically; no separate application is needed to discharge it.
In practice, orders often loosen before they expire, particularly as children move into their teens and form their own views about how to divide their time. A schedule that fit a six-year-old rarely fits a fifteen-year-old, and courts recognise that. Even so, the order remains legally enforceable until it expires, and a parent cannot ignore it simply because the child is older.
Changing an Order
Either parent can apply to vary or discharge an existing order if circumstances have changed. The application goes in on a fresh C100 and follows the same route: MIAM, Cafcass safeguarding, welfare checklist. The court is looking for a genuine change in the child’s needs or the parents’ situation, not a second run at the original arguments. A parent relocating for work, the child developing new educational or health needs, a significant change in a parent’s living situation, or one parent consistently failing to follow the order can justify a variation. A short-term shift like a few weeks of altered work hours will not.
Enforcement If a Parent Breaches
Every child arrangement order must have a warning notice attached, spelling out the consequences of non-compliance. Without that notice the court cannot make an enforcement order, so an older order without one may need the notice added before enforcement can proceed.
When a breach happens, the other parent can apply to the court to enforce. The court must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a breach occurred, then consider whether the parent had a reasonable excuse.12Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 – Section 11J Genuine illness or an emergency affecting the child can count; disagreeing with the order does not.
If the breach is proven and no reasonable excuse exists, the court can impose an unpaid work requirement of between 40 and 200 hours.13Legislation.gov.uk. Children Act 1989 – Schedule A1 It can also order financial compensation for losses caused by the breach, such as the cost of a disrupted holiday. In persistent or serious cases it can transfer the child’s primary residence to the other parent. The most severe tool is contempt of court, which can bring a fine or imprisonment. That is genuinely rare, because jailing a parent is seldom in the child’s interests, but the power exists and has been used in extreme cases.
Stopping Repeat Applications
Enforcement runs both ways. Under Section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989, the court can make a barring order stopping a named person from filing further applications without the court’s permission.14GOV.UK. Section 91(14) Barring Orders It is a safeguard against an ex-partner who uses repeated court applications as a form of control, dragging the other parent back to hearings for no legitimate reason. The court can make a barring order on its own initiative, without anyone asking, and will only lift it if the applicant can show a material change in circumstances since it was made.