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Hello,
I need quick bit of advice, i have a contact order with my ex to see my kids, now this is my question, if myself and the ex agree to me having more contact than is agreed, do we need to go back to court for any changes ? or can it just be done as a verbal agreement between us, with maybe a solicitors letter to cover it ? my ex says the order is set in stone, i was thinking it was more of a minimum standard that would be there in case things didnt go well.
cheers
Hi Sildar,
Welcome to DadTalk mate - I have asked our legal partners The Children's Legal Centre to take a look at this and respond - In the meantime I'm sure other members of the DadTalk community will share some advice with you.
Cheers
Gooner
I'm not an expert but believe that a contact order is a minimum requirement for contact - If you and your ex agree between yourselves to additional contact then that is allowed.
However if she was to change her mind - you would only be entitled to what's stated in the contact order.
Yep, generally there is nothing to stop you agreeing to contact beyond the court order. There's also nothing to stop you going back to court to get the order amended if you think the contact order is too restrictive and you can show that there are grounds for getting contact increased, BUT I would only do this if you can't come to an agreement beforehand (in practice, you'd be expected to go to a conciliation hearing in any event before a court hearing to show that you have tried to reach an agreement). As has been said many times before, going to court is a last resort - if you can come to some agreement, then it's best for everyone and even if there's occasional disagreement and your ex restricts contact to that stated on the order, if you can get past that, then it's still going to be better in the long run.
Dear Sildar,
We apologise for the delay in responding to your query.
A contact order states the minimum amount of contact that you should be having with your children, but more contact can be agreed between the parties.
Any contact that is agreed above what is in the court order is not legally binding, even if in a solicitors letter, and can later be altered by either party at any time, and so long as the contact stated in the order remains then no offence will be committed.
If the extra contact is agreed and then later denied, then you are able to return to court to try and have this placed in the court order, and the court may uphold this if this routine has been ongoing and was agreed by both parents.
You do have the option of returning to court to vary the order initially to include any extra agreed contact, but do not need to do this as the mother is able to agree to additional contact without the order being altered. If the mother refuses to agree to extra contact, then the only option you will have will be to apply to the court for this, and this will be for the court to decide whether or not to grant this.
If you place this extra contact in writing and both sign this, although it is not legally binding, it can be used to show the court what was agreed and they will often uphold such agreements if they feel that it is best for the child to do so.
There is no requirement on you to return to court for extra contact if both parties are in agreement, although the extra contact will not be binding.
We hope this information is useful to you. Should you require further advice please contact the Child Law Advice Line on 0808 8020 008 and an advisor will be happy to help you.
Kind Regards
Children’s Legal Centre
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