Ensuring the Wellbeing of Children during and after Divorce
Divorce is a challenging and emotional experience for any family, but ensuring the wellbeing of your children throughout the process is crucial.
In this feature, we explore the first practical steps and factors parents can address which will support their children during and after divorce.
From making firm plans, maintaining open communication and fostering stability to creating a co-parenting plan that prioritizes their needs, we provide insights and advice to help families navigate this difficult transition while minimizing its impact on children’s wellbeing.
Our top five legal-focused tips for ensuring the wellbeing of your children during and after divorce:
- Prioritize a Child-Centered Parenting Plan: Work with our legal team to create a comprehensive co-parenting plan that focuses on your children’s needs, covering aspects like custody arrangements, visitation schedules, and decision-making responsibilities.
- Maintain Open and Age-Appropriate Communication: Ensure your children are informed about the divorce in a way they can understand. Legal advice may help ensure that both parents communicate consistently and responsibly about the changes.
- Secure Financial Support Agreements: Establish clear and fair agreements regarding child support and expenses. Legal guidance ensures both parents contribute adequately to maintain your children’s standard of living.
- Minimize Conflict Through Mediation: Utilize mediation services to resolve disputes amicably, reducing stress and emotional strain on children. Mediation also helps prevent prolonged court battles that could impact their wellbeing.
- Enforce Stability and Routine: Legal agreements should help maintain stability in your children’s daily lives, including schooling, extracurricular activities, and living arrangements, fostering a sense of security post-divorce.
The next practical questions to think about are;
Where the children will live?
When a marriage breaks down, alongside the issue of what will happen to the family home and how to divide up marital assets, the question of where the children will live needs to be effectively and tactfully addressed. For example, the children may live with one parent most of the time but visit the other parent during the weekend.
When you’re considering what is best for your children and what is most acceptable for yourself and your spouse, you should try to think about:
- Who has the most time to look after the children, and which days have the greatest availability in order to maximise the quality time your children get to enjoy
- The sorts of activities your children do versus where each parent will live, as it is perhaps not the best idea to have children living a long way from their schools during the week
- Anything that could change in the future, such as the children moving to a new school
How to keep in touch with your children while they are staying with the other parent?
- While you and your partner are deciding where the children will live, and when, you should also try to work out how each parent will stay in contact with the children while they’re staying with the other parent.
- This is particularly relevant and important if one parent moves far away from their children after leaving the family home
- You should also agree how you will keep in contact with your ex-partner in case of emergency, especially regarding the welfare of the children.
What will the Child Maintenance agreement look like?
There are obvious financial factors when a couple separate and they have to make plans to move from one household to two separate households, cars, food budgets etc. It’s essential that your children don’t miss out on the maintenance and support costs they are owed. A negotiated settlement between both parties is the best and most cost effective resolution to financial issues. If a settlement cannot be agreed upon, it will be necessary to make an Ancillary Relief application to the Court. Orders for child maintenance can be made in certain circumstances but normally an application must be made to the Child Support Agency. The Court retains jurisdiction to make orders for child maintenance in certain limited circumstances such as school fees or medical expenses.
For example, the Court can issue an Order to deal with:
- School fees
- The needs of a child with specific requirements
- Introducing a ‘top up’ order if the maintenance from the CSA order reaches its upper limits
In terms of the other types of Orders the Court can make in divorce proceedings, it can make orders for:
- Maintenance of your ex-partner
- Maintenance for your children
- A lump sum for your partner
- A ‘property adjustment’ or ‘transfer of property’ order
- Giving a share or claim in an ex-partner’s pension fund
How we can help
Our team of expert Family Law solicitors can offer you legal advice to support you and your family through this difficult time, including;
- we offer a free assessment of your case
- we will give you a clear explanation of the options available to you and your family
- we will let you know how much it will cost from the outset
Get in Touch
We’ll assist and guide you through the negotiation and court processes and try to obtain the best resolution for you and your child.
Take the next step and get in touch with Partner Ciara Brolly & our expert Family Law team by calling us on 028 9022 7808 or make an enquiry online.