Child contact enforcement orders.

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How do I apply?

Firstly:

  1. A warning notice must first have been applied to the existing order;

  2. You must be in a position to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the existing order was broken;

  3. You should be satisfied that there was not a reasonable excuse for the order having been broken (e.g. the children were ill);

To apply for enforcement:

  1. You must complete form C79. Print and sign three copies of the form.

  2. Check how much the court fees are (see our page on Court Fees), and either take a cheque, postal order or cash for that amount when you go to your local family court.

  3. It will assist both you and the judge if you write a brief Position Statement. Try to keep the position statement to two to three pages, setting out briefly why you are applying for contact, and why you believe it to be in the children´s best interests. Be factual, and try to be objective in what you write, and the language you use.

  4. A position statement is not essential, but it helps inform the judge, briefly and ideally succinctly, why you are applying for the order, and can assist you in court so you do not forget any points you wish to raise.

  5. Before setting off for the court building, ensure you have with you:

    • Three completed and signed copies of the forms;

    • The cash, cheque or postal order to pay the court fee;

    • Three copies of your Position Statement.

    Hand in the court forms, fee and position statement to the court´s administration department.

What can happen at court?

If it is accepted that the order was broken, and there was not a reasonable excuse to justify the breach, there are a number of things a judge might do.

If, as a result of the order being broken, you suffered financial loss, the court can order financial compensation from the party in breach. You cannot claim damages for emotional harm/stress etc, but only for actual financial loss. Examples would include travel costs having been unnecessarily incurred, the cost of a lost session at a contact centre, or your having had to cancel a holiday or arrange additional childcare.

The Court can order that the party in breach carries out community service work. This can be for a period between 40 and 200 hours.

The Court may order that CAFCASS (the Court Welfare Service) monitor and/or assist in contact taking place. This can be done through the Court making a Family Assistance Order which can run for up to 12 months.

The Court may order that the parties attempt mediation to try to resolve their difficulties.

The Court may order that one or both parties undertake counselling/therapy/anger management counselling or other activities which the Judge feels are appropriate and may be of assistance in the prevention or resolution of conflict and to facilitate contact in the future. Such orders will likely be dependent on there being available services locally.

The potential exists that the Court could:

  1. Change the terms of the existing order if the current arrangements are found not to be in the children´s best interests and/or are impractical/unworkable.

  2. In exceptional circumstances, the Court could change the person who the child lives with or commit to prison the person in breach.

  3. There has recently been a new development in cases where contact has been persistently frustrated by the resident parent, the courts have suspended an order as a firm warning. It cannot be overstated that this is a new step, and comparatively rare. The court places conditions upon the residence order (now the child arrangements order) which, if breached, see residence transfer to the other parent. Case law to cite includes M (Children) [2012] EWHC 1948 (Fam).

More recently the case A (A Child) [2013] EWCA Civ 1104 is of great importance. At paragraph 60 of that judgment McFarlance LJ gave guidance:

´If, as part of that strategy, the court makes an express order requiring the parent with care to comply with contact arrangements, and that order is breached then, as part of a consistent strategy, the judge must, in the absence of good reason for any failure, support the order that he or she has made by considering enforcement, either under the enforcement provisions in CA 1989, ss 11J-11N or by contempt proceedings. To do otherwise would be to abandon the strategy for the case with the risk that a situation similar to that which has occurred in the present case may develop; to do otherwise is also inconsistent with the rule of law.´

Child Arrangements and Contact Enforcement

With the introduction of the Children and Adoption Act 2006 came new ways of handling matters where contact orders were not being complied with. The Children and Families Act 2014 extended the contact enforcement and assistance powers to encompass child arrangements orders (which now include contact).

Contact orders made after 8th December 2008 automatically include a warning notice. The warning notice sets out clearly the potential penalties and enforcement measures that are available to the Court if the contact order is broken. The new child arrangements orders should also include this warning notice.

If you have a contact order made before 8th December 2008, or a shared residence order and the order has broken down, you will need to apply for a warning notice to be attached to your order before seeking enforcement.

If you have informal arrangements regarding contact and these have failed, before applying for enforcement you should apply for a child arrangements order, but must first attempt Mediation.

Will the Court attach a warning notice?

Yes. Her Majesty's Court Services' guidance on the attachment of warning notices states that a Judge does not have discretion in this area. Technically, he/she must.

Be aware that in practice, we are experiencing Judges first choosing to consider whether the existing arrangements contained in the existing order are viable and whether they need amendment. If the existing order is varied, any new order would automatically have a warning notice attached. Be aware that the other party (normally the other parent) may choose to use your application to the court as an opportunity to seek the court's agreement to vary the existing order.

How quickly should a date be set for the hearing?

Enforcement hearings should be listed within 20 working days of your application, and ideally before the judge who made the order being enforced. These guidelines were set out in the Child Arrangements Programme Practice Directions (PD12b at paragraph 21.2). A copy of those directions can downloaded (as a PDF file) via the following link:

PD12b - Child Arrangements Programme

How do I apply for a warning notice?

Before applying to court, we recommend you attempt to resolve matters without involving the court. If this proves to be impossible, then you will need to:

  1. complete Court Form C78;

  2. provide a copy of the existing contact/residence orders or child arrangements order(if available);

  3. take these to your local family court administration department.

How much is the fee?

Fees for warning notice and enforcement order applications can be checked on our Court Fees page.

Who can apply for an enforcement order?

Be aware that an old contact order must have a warning notice attached to it before an enforcement order can be made. Contact Orders made after December 2008 automatically have a warning notice attached. The new child arrangements order which replaced contact orders on 22nd April 2014 will automatically include a warning notice.

Subject to the warning notice requirement, you can apply for enforcement of a contact, residence, shared residence or child arrangements order.

Making additional allegations of harm

Form C1A: Provide supplemental information when making or responding to allegations of harm and domestic violence

Tell the court about harm that you, a child or children have suffered or are at risk of suffering, or use this form to respond to any allegations made by the other person in their application.

Other related forms.

Form C78: Application for attachment of a warning notice to a child arrangements order

Application for attachment of a warning notice to a child arrangements order.

C2: Make an application in existing court proceedings

Form C2: Make an application in existing court proceedings relating to children

Ask for permission to start proceedings, or to request an order or directions in existing proceedings, or to ask to join or leave proceedings.

Urgent court hearings about child arrangements (CB2)

Guidance about urgent cases including information on hearing applications without notifying the other parties.