Child Arrangements: Custody, Contact & Court Orders (2026)

You can write down what you have agreed in a child arrangements plan if you want a record. The plan can cover when and where the children spend time with each parent and what other contact, such as phone calls, will take place. A plan made with the GOV.UK service is not legally binding. The other parent does not have to do what it says, and either of you can suggest changes to it at any time.

You can agree on child maintenance at the same time as child arrangements or separately.

See our guide to how much child maintenance is paid.

In family mediation, a mediator is a professional who helps you make decisions based on your child's best interests. They listen to both sides and take a neutral approach. You can attend in person or remotely and do not have to be in the same room or call as your ex-partner. Mediation is not relationship counselling, and you need to use an accredited mediator.

If you decide to go to court, you will usually need to show you have attended a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) before you apply. If you attend a MIAM but your ex-partner does not, you can still apply to go to court. At the MIAM the mediator gives you advice about the mediation process, discusses your situation and helps you decide if mediation is right for you. The mediator signs a form showing you attended, which you will need to show if you apply to go to court. Only a mediator accredited by the Family Mediation Council can sign the form.

You will not usually need to go to a MIAM if one of these applies:

• You have been to a MIAM or tried other ways of agreeing without going to court in the last 4 months
• You have evidence that you are a victim of domestic abuse
• You are applying for a consent order
• Your children are at risk of harm, for example social services are involved in their care
• You cannot go to a MIAM because of your location, situation or the mediator's availability
• You are applying for a without notice hearing, a hearing which happens without the other person being told
• The application is urgent, for example you or your child are in danger

The cost of a MIAM depends on the mediator you choose. The usual cost is around £120, and you and your ex-partner each attend your own MIAM separately. You do not have to pay for a MIAM if either of you qualifies for legal aid.

You can usually get a voucher worth up to £500 to pay for family mediation, regardless of what you earn. The voucher usually pays for a minimum of 2 mediation sessions, depending on where you live and the type of mediation, and it cannot be used towards the cost of a MIAM. You and your ex-partner can only use one voucher between you, so you cannot apply for multiple vouchers. Ask an accredited mediator to apply for it; you do not need to pay upfront for any sessions it covers. The Family Mediation Voucher Scheme is time-limited, and vouchers are limited in number.

Mediation is usually cheaper and quicker than going to court. You could also try solicitor negotiation, collaborative law, arbitration or neutral evaluation. Non-court dispute resolution is usually quicker than going to court.

You can apply for a court order if you have parental responsibility, for example you are the child's mother or father. You can also apply if you are another relative of the child, such as a grandparent, aunt or uncle. A child arrangements order is when the court decides where your child lives, who they will spend time with and whether other types of contact will take place, for example phone calls. Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 defines it as an order regulating arrangements relating to with whom a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact.

You can apply for more than one type of court order. You can ask the court to help you agree on a specific issue, for example where your child should go to school. A prohibited steps order stops your ex-partner from making any permanent decisions about your child's upbringing, for example taking your child out of the country.

It costs £270 to apply for a court order. You may be able to get help paying court fees if you are on benefits or a low income. You will need to pay any costs for a legal adviser separately. When you apply online you have 28 days to complete the application once you have started. You can also apply by post with the C100 form, sending the court your original C100 form and 3 copies.

Our divorce guide lists the divorce court fees for parents who are also ending a marriage.

The court may arrange a directions hearing with both parents if you apply for a court order. At the hearing a judge or magistrate will try to work out what you can agree, what you cannot agree and if your child is at risk in any way, and will encourage you to reach an agreement if it is in the child's best interests. The court can ask Cafcass to provide a report on your case to help decide what is best for the child, and the Cafcass family court adviser may ask your child about their feelings. You may have to go on a course called a Separated Parents Information Programme if your case is about child arrangements.

If your ex-partner is not following the order, you can ask the court to enforce it by filling in form C79, which costs £270. The court might make an enforcement order, which means your ex-partner has to do between 40 and 200 hours of unpaid work, or an order for compensation for financial loss. The court might not enforce the order if it thinks your ex-partner is not following it because they have a good reason or because it is better for your children to do something different.

If the court has to decide, the child's welfare is the court's paramount consideration. It will not make an order unless it considers that doing so would be better for the child than making no order at all. The court has regard in particular to the following matters when it is considering whether to make, vary or discharge a section 8 order and a party to the proceedings opposes it, and it must also have regard to the general principle that any delay in determining the question is likely to prejudice the welfare of the child.

The welfare checklist includes:

• ✓Yes: The child's ascertainable wishes and feelings, considered in the light of their age and understanding
• ✓Yes: Their physical, emotional and educational needs
• ✓Yes: The likely effect on them of any change in their circumstances
• ✓Yes: Their age, sex, background and any characteristics the court considers relevant
• ✓Yes: Any harm they have suffered or are at risk of suffering
• ✓Yes: How capable each parent, and any other person the court considers relevant, is of meeting their needs

On top of the checklist, section 1 of the Children Act 1989 tells the court to presume, unless the contrary is shown, that involvement of a parent who can be involved without putting the child at risk of harm will further the child's welfare. It says involvement means involvement of some kind, either direct or indirect, but not any particular division of a child's time.

Having parental responsibility means you have legal rights and duties relating to your children's upbringing. You automatically have it if you give birth to the child. You will usually have automatic parental responsibility if you are married to or in a civil partnership with the birth mother when the child is born.

If you have not married or formed a civil partnership with the birth mother, you can get parental responsibility by jointly registering the birth with the mother. If you do not register the birth together, you can apply for parental responsibility. Step parents do not automatically get parental responsibility for children, even if they are married to a child's parent, but they can apply for it.

A legal adviser can help you to apply for a court order, and some legal advisers offer free one-off consultations. You can also represent yourself in court without a legal adviser. You may be able to get legal aid to help pay for a legal adviser in court, for example if you are on a low income or have evidence that you are a victim of domestic abuse. If you cannot afford a legal adviser and do not qualify for legal aid, you can contact Advocate. Support Through Court is a free service that explains the court process and can help you apply for a court order.

GOV.UK says there are different rules for making child arrangements in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In Scotland, section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 lets the court make a residence order, regulating with whom a child under the age of sixteen years is to live, and a contact order, regulating the arrangements for maintaining personal relations and direct contact between a child under that age and a person with whom the child is not, or will not be, living. The court must regard the child's welfare as its paramount consideration and must not make an order unless it considers that it would be better for the child that the order be made than that none should be made at all.

In Northern Ireland, article 8 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 defines a residence order as an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom a child is to live, and a contact order as an order requiring the person with whom a child lives, or is to live, to allow the child to visit or stay with the person named in the order. Article 3 makes the child's welfare the court's paramount consideration.