Family life isn’t always picture-perfect. At times, legal intervention is the best thing for everyone involved.
A family court order can be used to act when action is needed. It can stop an ex-partner from taking your children, or decide what kind of home environment your family should be living in. Sometimes, decisions need to be made in a more formal environment. Friendly negotiations don’t always work, and when relationships break down there’s often one partner (or a child) that ends up suffering.
For someone’s safety, or a child’s wellbeing, a family court order might be used. You can apply for a court order if you believe that it’s in your family’s best interests. These can be used to formalise conditions that will keep everyone safe, or to make sure that a family’s left with enough money to get by on.
Here are the seven main types of court order that you might end up dealing with:
Specific Issue Order
As the name suggests, these court orders cover just one specific issue. They might decide how a child should be educated, whether a child’s name can be changed or what medical treatment they receive. They can also be used to make other decisions, like what religion a child should be raised in or where they should be able to live.
A Specific Issue Order might stop a parent taking their child out of the country. Alternatively, the court order could allow it so a parent can move abroad with their son or daughter.
If only one issue needs to be considered, a Specific Issue Order is a very easy way to make sure that this issue is dealt with. It allows both parents to continue to enjoy all other parental rights, without allowing a specific decision that might not be in a child’s best interests.
Child Arrangements Order
Previously known as a Residence Order, this type of court order determines what a child’s household looks like. It can determine who a child lives with, and their access to another parent or legal guardian.
If contact needs to be supervised, then supervised contact will also be included in a Child Arrangements Order.
In rare cases, Child Arrangement Orders can be used to give or restrict visitation rights for grandparents, and those not in a child’s immediate family.
Maintenance Order
A Maintenance Order covers maintenance payments. It decides how much someone should pay their partner in maintenance after a divorce. Spousal Maintenance can be important where one person hasn’t had their own income. They may need some financial support from an ex-partner,
whilst they get back on their feet. This might happen if a stay-at-home parent has been raising their child full-time, contributing to the household with their time rather than their money.
Maintenance Orders can be for a specific amount of time. This could give the recipient time to find their own suitable employment, or to find other income options that don’t leave them relying on their ex.
Occupation Order
An Occupation Order sets out in writing who a child can live with. They can stop a parent from inviting a new partner to live with them in their home, giving the child some additional stability if people feel that it’s needed. They can also stop a certain person from entering the family home. They tend to be used if it’s thought that the residents could be at risk mentally or physically.
Prohibited Steps Order
A Prohibited Steps Order puts a stop to certain actions that a parent could usually take. Parental Responsibility allows an adult to make decisions for their child, like decisions about their medical treatment or taking them out of the country. With a Prohibited Steps Order, standard Parental Responsibility is overwritten.
Without Parental Responsibility, a parent won’t be able to change their child’s name or relocate with a child. They might also be unable to make certain (or all) medical decisions.
Prohibited Steps Orders might sound very similar to a Specific Issue Order, but where a Specific Issue Order covers only one area, a Prohibited Steps Order covers everything at once to take away all parental rights.
Pension Order
A Pension Order might be used if a pension pot needs to be shared. This might happen, for example, if one partner’s built a pension fund whilst the other’s been unable to. Following divorce, the pension funds may be shared out more equally or fairly.
Non-Molestation Order
A Non-Molestation Order can be used if an ex-partner is violent. It includes rules that stop your ex-partner from harming you or your children.
Non-Molestation Orders can include several restrictions. Your Non-Molestation Order will be designed to fit your lifestyle and requirements. It may stop your ex-partner from collecting the children from school, or from being close to it. It might also stop them from living on the same road as your house or as your child’s school. If an ex-partner already lives further away, it might be that you simply don’t want them to have any contact with your family.
A Non-Molestation Order can ban someone from any direct communication, so they can’t contact you or your children. You can use it to make sure that your child’s school doesn’t send information to your ex-partner, either.
Do you need process serving for court orders?
If you need process serving for court orders, choose EJM Investigations for a professional service. We make sure that court orders reach the right recipients, with evidence of delivery, so you can be sure that legal documents are sent and received when they’re supposed to be.
A court order is useless if the person it’s intended for doesn’t know what it includes. How can someone do the right thing if they don’t know what it is they should be doing? Some people will do everything in their power to make a claim of ignorance, avoiding answering letters and pretending they haven’t received them.
Important documents, including court orders, must be hand-delivered to the right person. At EJM Investigations, we’ll make sure that happens with a reliable, professional approach.
Call EJM Investigations for process serving today, on 01772 334 700