Visitation Rights in the UK: What They Are and How to Enforce Them

Visitation Rights: The English Law Equivalent

Visitation rights is the term used in American family law for the right of the non-resident parent to spend time with a child. In England and Wales this is not the terminology used. The equivalent is a child arrangements order specifying that the child shall spend time with a named person, commonly referred to as a contact order or a spends-time-with order.

You do not have a formal legal right to see your child that exists independently of a court order, if the other parent is withholding contact. What you have is the right to apply to the court for an order, and once an order is made, the right to enforce it.

When You Do Not Need a Court Order

Most arrangements for children after separation are agreed between the parents without any court involvement. If you can agree on arrangements, those arrangements are valid even without a court order. You do not need the court's permission to have contact with your child if both parents agree. A court order is needed only when you cannot agree, or when an existing arrangement is being flouted.

The family court is a last resort, not a first step. If contact is being withheld before any court order exists, your first step is mediation. The court will ask what steps you took to resolve this before bringing it to them.

Applying for a Contact Order

You apply for a child arrangements order using the C100 form after attending a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting. The application specifies what arrangements you are seeking: specific days, times, duration, whether overnight, arrangements for holidays and special occasions, and handover arrangements.

Be specific. Applications that ask vaguely for "reasonable contact" are harder for courts to enforce and harder for CAFCASS to evaluate than applications that set out a detailed proposed schedule.

What the Court Considers

The court applies the welfare checklist from the Children Act 1989 and the presumption of parental involvement. It will consider the child's wishes and feelings, their physical and emotional needs, the likely effect of any change, the capability of each parent to meet the child's needs, and any risk of harm. The court's starting point is that involvement of both parents is generally in the child's best interests, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Enforcing the Order When Contact Is Refused

Once a contact order is in place, breaching it is contempt of court. Use the C79 enforcement application. File it at the court that made the original order. Attach your contemporaneous record of breaches. The court can impose unpaid work, financial penalties, additional contact time, and in persistent cases can transfer residence to you.

Ask for a penal notice to be attached to any order. Without one, the range of enforcement sanctions is more limited.