The Suspended Residence Order

OMG - I have never heard of a Suspended Residence Order in all my reading Law Books I never came across this one...

I quote Judge Coleridge

You may not yet have come across “the suspended residence order”. it was invented by me last year to deal with the case I was mentioning earlier. The Court of Appeal has now given this new tool its blessing on two occasions and it is now reported as Re A (suspended residence order) 2010 1 FLR 1679. It works in the same way as a suspended committal order but without the irritating technicalities attached to enforcement by committal. The court attaches clear conditions which if breached lead to immediate removal of the children to the other parent. The advantage of this order, in these intractable cases, is that the outcome lies entirely in the hands of the defaulting parent (which, of course, is made clear to him or her at the time of the making of the order). In the “A” case the suspension had to be lifted and the police finally moved the children earlier this year to their long suffering grandparents. It was all pretty grim but they are now having full and unsupervised contact to the father they had not seen for properly for four years. There are three conditions I would attach to this suspended residence order approach. Firstly, and obviously, the judge must be satisfied, at the time the suspended order is made, that the alternative home is good enough. Secondly, it must be made abundantly clear to the parent concerned that you really mean what you say, and finally there must be judicial continuity throughout. The authority must come from the judge not the process.

I think I will ask for one of these in the next directions hearings or after my main hearing. That should stop the nastiness in its tracks.

Hurray for Judge Coleridge!!!

Another double edged sword, great for NRP who are innocent but being denied access by spiteful RP. A bloody nightmare for those fleeing DV and trying to protect their children from said abuse. It can be so hard at times to prove which category people fit into.

DisneyBunny,
I believe its only used where the RP is being difficult. In cases of DV, it would not even get considered.

I hope so honey. people are strange creatures, I wish I''d had kids with someone like you lol Good luck with everything

Fascinating, Khan, and a new one on me. I shall have to re-write the F4J Handbook!

I have a lot of time for Coleridge - he also came up with the "three strikes and you''re out" approach. He''s a contender for the next President of the Family Division - couldn''t be worse than Wall.

Does the 3 strikes work both ways

DisneyBunny,
A personal friend of mine had an ex who was violent to his own child. He is now permanently out of the childs life thanks to the court. This man did not get three strikes. He was out in 1. I think all will agree that one serious piece of harm is one piece too many.