Position Statement

Can anyone help please, I am trying to advise a friend but don''t want to give incorrect information. ''The applicant’ is applying for C79? (clarity on court order) or C2 (vary existing court order) (or both) cost £200, if she proceeds will ‘the respondent’ also have to pay court fees and what should she put in her position statement and how long should it be. What are the chances of the order being varied downwards against her if she is the one applying.

I think she needs to ask more specifc questions with a little more detail.

The respondent won''t pay court fees unless they also make an application.

What does she want to achieve? If she wants to change the existing order, then the C2 is the appropriate form. (i.e., if she is the one having contact, and she wants to have more contact, or if she is the one with whom the child clives, and she wants the contact to be reduced)

If she is happy with what the order says, but it is not happening, then the C79 (enforcement) is likely to be appropriate, but she needs to be aware that it is virtually impossible to force someone to have cotnact if they don''t want to, so if the problem is that the child is with her, and her ex doesn;t show up for contact, then a variation is likely to be more practical than seeking to enforce.

She does not do a statement at this point, she puts very brief details in the form itself (e.g. "the order provides for me to have contact once a fortnight, ex is refusing to allow me to see child so I wish to enforce the order. no reason has been given for stipping contact" OR "Oder provides for ex to see child once a fortnight. I allways get child ready but ex has only showed up for 1 in the last 6 contacts. He doesn;t tell me if he will come or not and child gets upset when he doesn''t show. I belive that an order for monthly contact, with a condition that he confirm the night before, would be better for child, and seek a variation of the order to allow for that")

The court can then make a direction for a more detailed statement if./when they need one.


Whether / how the order is change will depend on the circumstances as the question is always about what is in the best interests of the child/children.

Thank you. I guess what she wants is to clarify times and dates as the court order is ambiguous at best leaving much to the discretion of each parent to arrange and agree extended dates and times and this has been open to misinterpretation as each has their own view on how the order should be read. Not much has been agreed and 6 months down the line the order needs to be clearer to avoid confusion and difficulties for the children. (To be honest she isn''t the best negotiator and clams up at the first sign of disagreement so nothing ever gets resolved - some of the requests are not unreasonable just communication a big problem) and she doesn''t want to deviate from the order in any way as she thinks one inch will turn into a mile.