Once you have got your order, agreed or otherwise, that unfortunately is not always the end of the matter, as orders are often breached, especially contact orders. Again, this subject is really beyond the scope of this BLOG, but a couple of general points follow.
The first thing to be aware of is that a court order relating to arrangements for children is not ‘written in stone’ in the same way as other types of court order. You can’t just go back to the court six months or a year after the order was made and expect the court to enforce it without looking into the matter afresh. Things can change and what was best for the child’s welfare when the order was made is not necessarily still best for the child. So, for example, instead of enforcing a contact order the court may instead redefine the contact arrangements to deal with any problems that have arisen since the original order was made. Enforcement action is unlikely unless there is a blatant and inexcusable breach
of the order; even more likely if there has been a series of such breaches.
If the court does take enforcement action then these are the options open to it:
• Impose a fine upon the person in breach of the order, although this will of course only be appropriate if that person has the means to pay.
• Commit the person in breach of the order to prison, but this may not be practically possible if they are the parent looking after the child, although in an extreme case the court can order that the child reside with the other parent (if that parent is in a position to look after the child).
• On the application of the other party (form C79), make an order (an enforcement order) imposing an unpaid work requirement on the person in breach of the contact order, provided that the contact order contains a notice warning of the consequences of failing to comply with it. All contact orders made on or after 8 December 2008 should contain such a notice and either party can apply to the court (form C78) for such a notice to be attached to contact orders made before that date.
• On the application of the other party (again, form C79), make an order that the person in breach of the contact order pay financial compensation to the other party for any losses that they incurred as a result of the failure to comply with the contact order. Again, the requirement of a warning notice applies, as above.
Residence and contact orders can be varied at any time by the agreement of the parents and will automatically cease to have effect if the parents should subsequently live together for a continuous period of more than six months. On the other hand, you may wish to change the arrangements but the other parent may not agree, for example where you now seek more contact than was contained in the original order. In this case you can apply back to the court for the order to be varied. Note, however, that you will need to give the original order some time to work (say, at least six months) and you cannot make continual applications to the court, as the court can make an order forbidding any further applications without the permission of the court.