Back to school – and maybe back to the courts
3rd September, 2013
Sarah Crilly (pictured), Associate in the Family and Matrimonial team at Ward Hadaway, looks at what happens in the event of a dispute between separated partners over children's schooling.
Sarah Crilly
The nights are drawing in and Autumn is just around the corner. For many parents and children now is a time of new shoes, new notebooks, new friends, new teachers and, for some, a new school.
This can be an exciting, if rather busy, time but for some divorced and separated parents it can be a time of great conflict, resulting in them requiring the services of a family lawyer and in some circumstances a court process.
Sometimes there can be a dispute about what school the children should attend or even whether the children should be privately educated or not.
Even if the choice of school is not in dispute, sometimes issues over funding or a child’s surname can make it necessary to engage the services of a family lawyer.
Wherever possible, a family lawyer will encourage parties to sort matters out via mediation and in fact there is now a requirement that parties must show that they have attempted mediation before any application to court is made.
Court is a last step but where it is necessary the court has a difficult task. It will ultimately make the decision for the parents, whatever is in dispute, and this is called a Specific Issue Order.
The court will be guided by a principle embodied in legislation, namely that the child’s welfare will be its paramount consideration.
A number of factors (also prescribed in legislation) will assist the court known as the “welfare checklist”. In cases involving older children this can include their wishes and feelings.
The outcome is at the discretion of the court based upon the evidence before it so there will rarely be a definite outcome.
My advice to any parent going through such a dispute or about to embark on litigation is to focus on the child and not their own issues.
Of course, this is easier said than done but it is an absolute must and something which will ultimately be to the benefit of the children.
* For more details on the issues raised by this article, please contact Sarah Crilly on +44 (0)191 204 4463 or email sarah.crilly@wardhadaway.com
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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