We've been asked on several occasions recently whether you can still ask the court to make the equivalent of a shared residence order under the new style Child Arrangements Order.The very simple answer is...
YES
...and our guides show you how. Click on the image [to the left] to be taken straight to our guide.
You can even double check we're right by looking at section 7 of the Draft Child Arrangements Order which you'll also find on our site.
We also have a library of case law related to Shared Living Arrangements.
There was a change to "shared residence" which came about due to the amendments to the Children Act 1989 which were introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014. These amendments now allow the same enforcement provisions to be made in respect of shared residence (now shared living arrangements albeit otherwise the same as shared residence was prior to the amendments) as there were before (and still are) to enforce contact.
We've also made our Shared Living Arrangements guide more prominent on our Applying To Court page.
Why consider shared living arrangements for your children?
Social research shows that children fare better emotionally, psychologically, and developmentally when parents separate but share care.
Go on... if you must go to court to settle arrangements, consider shared living arrangements... do it for the kids...
