Unlike a child’s parents, grandparents do not have a legal right to spend time with their grandchildren as in most cases they do not have parental responsibility.
What options do grandparents have to spend time with their grandchildren?
Grandparents have the following options available to spend time with their grandchildren:
- Informal conversations with parents and / or carers;
- Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (also known as a ‘MIAM’); and
- The grandparents can seek permission from the court to apply for a Child Arrangements Order (‘CAO’).
What is a Child Arrangements Order?
There are two different Child Arrangements Orders that the grandparents could apply for:
- Child Arrangements Order – Live With
- Child Arrangements Order – Spend Time With
A Child Arrangements Order Live With is what is says on the tin – with whom does the child reside with for the majority of the time.
A Child Arrangements Order Spend Time With can be made for different reasons, which could include:
- A child staying over at their grandparents’ house a couple of days a week.
- A child spending time with their grandparents either at their home or a set location.
- A child spending time with their grandparents at a contact centre.
- Grandparents being allowed indirect contact with a child e.g. letters, telephone, video calls etc.
What is the procedure for a grandparent to apply for a Child Arrangements Order?
- Like any children case, grandparents must attend a MIAM before seeking permission from the court to apply for a CAO. The mediator from the MIAM will be asked to sign the Order to confirm the attendance of the parties.
- Unlike cases involving parents, the grandparents must seek permission from the court before making an application for a CAO, unless an exception applies. One exception is where the child has lived with the grandparent in question for over a year and the parents have agreed to this. In this case, the grandparents can apply directly to Court for a CAO Live With.
- To apply for a CAO, the grandparents must complete a form C100 and send it to the nearest court for consideration, along with the court fee payable.
- In deciding whether the grandparents should be allowed to apply for a CAO, the court shall consider the following factors:
- The nature of the application (for example, why is the grandparent making this application?);
- The grandparent’s connection with the child; and
- Any risk of the proposed application disrupting the child’s life to the extent they would be harmed by it. In other words, would the Order being granted put the child at risk of harm?
- If the court grants permission allowing the grandparents to apply for a CAO, it will then be at the judge’s discretion to consider the facts and decide whether an Order should be granted.
How does the process differ for a grandparent seeking to spend time with their grandchildren as opposed to if it was a parent?
As mentioned above, a grandparent must seek permission from the court to apply for the CAO in the first place. Whereas a parent can apply to the court straight away without the court’s permission.
What is the likelihood of success for the grandparent?
The likelihood of success for the grandparents in both seeking permission to apply for a CAO and being granted a CAO is entirely fact-dependent to each case. The decision will be at the judge’s discretion.