The Law
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Contact
Contact is when the children spend
time visiting or staying with the parent, grandparents, relatives
or other people important to them who they don't live with. This
can include the telephone, text messages, e-mails, letters and
cards.
A Contact Order, given by the Court, requires the person with whom
the children live to allow them to visit, stay or have contact with
the person named in the order, usually the absent parent. As with
other orders, these continue until the children are 18 or have
completed full time education.
Try and establish a regular routine of contact as soon as possible
after you, or your partner, leave the home. Try not to let them
down, always keep to contact days and times.
It is better that contact is agreed by the parents without the
intervention of the Court. However, if this is not possible, a
recommendation will be made to the Court as part of
the Welfare Report. They will consider the children's
interests and opinions and the present situation when making their
recommendation. There is no rule as to the amount of contact, this
will depend on many factors which include their age's and wishes,
your commitments, work and the like, and both parents wishes.
If contact is being refused by a parent or the children are
refusing contact this must be addressed immediately. For older
children it is usually that friends become temporarily more
important however younger ones are more open to persuasion, usually
by the parent they live with!
The Court, in particular, takes a very dim view of one parent
refusing previously agreed contact with the other without a valid
reason or pursuading the children not to contact, visit or
acknowledge the absent parent.
If your children have chosen to live with you or are living with
you, try to continue as normal as possible. Encourage regular
contact with Mum and never refuse any communication or contact that
has previously been agreed or the children have asked for. Listen
to your children's views and opinions and take these into
consideration when making any material changes.
If you are struggling to maintain contact with your children or
have lost contact completely or they are refusing contact with
either parent, contact us.
Some of the procedures described and the terms used may be
different depending on whether you live in Jersey, Guernsey or one
of the other Islands.
Separation & Divorce
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Finance
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The Law
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