The Family Court judges and magistrates in the Midland region are today issuing guidelines entitled ‘What the Family Courts expect from parents’.
The guidelines will be given to all parties in proceedings relating to residence and contact cases involving children, and are intended to advise parents seeking a court order related to divorce or separation, of the factors that the judges require them to consider before going further.
These include:
- shared responsibility for bringing up their children
- doing what’s best for their child
- helping their children by listening, talking and explaining what is happening.
- emphasising that court-imposed orders tend to work less well than agreements made between parents.
Launching the guidelines, Family Division Liaison Judge for the Midlands, Mr Justice McFarlane said:
“We are issuing these court guidelines to set out, in clear and straightforward language, all the factors parents need to take into consideration before applying for a court order in the Family Courts.
“Whilst there are already a number of guides for separating parents, the publication of this document is an innovation in that it comes from the judges who decide these issues if they remain contested. The aim is for the court to ensure, at the earliest opportunity, that parents in conflict know what the judges and magistrates expect from them, so that more parents resolve matters by agreement at an early stage.
“It will help judges to know that all parents have thought about these court guidelines prior to coming to court, for this should expedite and focus what can be a difficult and traumatic process for all.”
Midland region guidelines: What the Family Courts expect from parents (PDF 54kb)
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