Hayley Trim's Analysis: It's only words…

This week I found myself going round in circles on what seemed to be a very simple issue - can the court make a contact order without making a residence order? And I have concluded that I respectfully disagree with Lord Justice Thorpe.

The case in question is Re S (A Child) [2010] EWCA Civ 705 in which the mother sought a sole residence order and the father (acting in person) a shared residence order. The parents having failed to agree arrangements for their daughter the judge's out-moded indication was that a shared residence order was inappropriate given the distance between their homes (probably no more than 100 miles). He made an order as drafted by the mother's counsel providing that the father would ‘have care of the child' for certain periods. The intention no doubt was to avoid using ‘residence' and ‘contact' which as many mediators will tell you can be...

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