While you and your partner may not see eye to eye anymore, you are both still parents to your children and you’ll need to be able to co-parent from different households.
Having discussions with your partner about how you are going to co-parent your children together after the breakdown of your relationship or marriage is ideal but we understand that it can be a difficult discussion. When trying to work out parenting arrangements, it is necessary to focus on your children’s best interests.
What if we can agree on things? How do we formalise it?
If you and your former partner can reach an agreement in relation to your parenting arrangements, there are a few ways to formalise it. This can either be done through a Parenting Plan or Consent Orders.
Parenting Plans
A parenting plan is another way to set out an agreement about care arrangements for your children, however the agreement is not legally enforceable. The parenting arrangement must be written, signed and dated by both parties. If your matter is litigated in Court, the Court will consider the parties’ parenting plan. If you have Consent Orders and decide to enter into a Parenting Plan, this will revoke the Consent Orders.
Consent Orders
If you have reached an agreement about the care of the children, the Court can formalise it as a Consent Order making it legally enforceable. In general terms, the Court must be satisfied that the proposed arrangement is reasonably practicable and in the best interest of the child or children.
What if we can’t agree?
If you find it hard to have this kind of discussion or can’t seem to agree on any arrangements, we can provide you with different dispute resolution options.
Child Support
There are a number of factors that are to be taken into account in determining how much one parent is to pay the other for the financial support of a child. Some factors include considerations of the child’s age, how much time a child spends with each parent and each parties’ income. Child support can be calculated through the Child Support Agency or parties can enter into an agreement dealing with how costs of a child is to be divided.
Contact us to discuss child support with one of our solicitors.