Often, when there is a breakdown of a relationship, issues arise over how much time the children spend with each parent.
In many circumstances one party is seeking ‘shared care’ believing this to mean that the children spend an equal amount of time with each parent. However, this is a common misconception. There is no legal principle of shared equality of time in relation to children, this is reiterated in the recent case of Father v Mother [2023] EWHC 1454 (Fam).
Shared care does not mean equality of time; it means an arrangement where the children live with both parents no matter the length of time spent with them. For example, an arrangement whereby the children spend alternate weekends with one parent but live with both parents is a shared care agreement.
The significance of the ‘live with’ part of a child arrangements order is that it allows a parent to travel abroad for up to 28 days without the permission of the other parent. Whereas, if there is a ‘spend time’ with order, that parent would require permission of the other parent take the child abroad.
It does not have any impact on the rights a parent has by having parental responsibility for a child. If a parent has PR then they are entitled to be involved in all important decisions relating to that child like where they go to school, medical decisions and relocating whether internally within the same country or to another country.
Ultimately, the Court will favour an order that is in the best interests of the child, not what is in the interest of a parent.
By Jennifer Miles
To receive advice on this or any other Family Law issue, please contact our Family Team on 020 8304 4884 or family@alettashaw.co.uk