Steven Wade is a family law advisor (McKenzie Friend) with nearly 20 years of experience helping people represent themselves in court. Having been through the system personally and supported thousands of others since, he knows what it’s like to face the stress, confusion, and pressure of doing it alone. This blog shares practical insights that empower you to take control of your case — without the legal jargon or the hefty solicitor’s bill.
What happens if you ignore a court order?
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What happens if you ignore a court order?
- Introduction
- Why do courts make orders in the first place?
- What do courts do to try to make things work?
- So what happens if you ignore a court order?
- When can I break a court order?
- Conclusion
Introduction
It’s the elephant in the room. Orders made in the family court are frequently broken. Another elephant is that the Court doesn’t enforce it’s own orders, leading to frustration, upset and a feeling of the futility for those who want what has been decided in Court is stuck to. Everyone knows it. Ask your solicitor about this and he/she will tell you the Court has a wide range of tools to deal with this and it’s something you shouldn’t be concerned about.
Except…it keeps happening.
And if you can’t trust that the order you’ve got (possibly at great cost, effort and time) – what are your options? If orders don’t work, is it even worth making an application to the Court in the first place?
Why do courts make orders in the first place?
It may seem like a silly question, but it’s worth asking.
In private law (i.e. cases that don’t involve Social Services, etc.), the Court will only get involved when a parent, grandparent, etc. makes an application. There’s a simple reason for this:
The general principle is that parents are free to decide arrangements for children and are trusted to act in their best interests.
When parents agree whatever that is, great!
When that isn’t the case, one of them applies to the Court and decisions are taken out of both parent’s hands. For this reason, Court should be the last resort – because making an application is entrusting the fate of children to strangers who don’t know them and won’t be affected by the consequences of whatever happens next. Once a situation is in the Court’s hands, a judge is empowered to make a whatever decision he/she feels is in the best interests of the children. He/she may agree with the point of view of one parent or may decide to make an order that neither have asked for, nor want.
It’s why applications should not be made lightly. The only time they should happen is when you think a better outcome can be achieved by relying on the Court to make it rather than ex partner you disagree with. But it is a gamble.
Parents aren’t expected to be perfect. `Good enough’ is good enough. A court – if it’s involved – will understand that people have stuff going on, may be a little emotional and upset but will work on the assumption they’re basically decent mothers and fathers who big picture are doing it all for their children. A family law case isn’t a `beauty contest’ where both parents are competing to `prove’ they’re the better parent, with the Court awarding the children to the `winner’.
What do courts do to try to make things work?
As I mention above – the Court does not want to make an order. The best case scenario for children is for their parents to work together. By the time a matter is before a Court there will still be attempts to persuade parents to compromise and be reasonable.
The options the Court has include:
- Offering resources like parenting plans and apps to enable parents to work together.
- Making mediation compulsory before you can make a court application (unless it has been deemed unsafe).
- Suggesting mediation take place at hearings to try to descalate matters.
- Telling people to arrive before a hearing to discuss the situation to see if things can be resolved before anyone sees a judge (at every hearing).
- The judge trying to see if a solution can be found without the Court making a decision or both parties doesn’t like (again at every hearing).
- Encouraging discussions outside the court room between the parties to find a mutually agreeable solution.
- Encouraging discussions inside the court room between the parties to find a mutually agreeable solution.
When agreement is made at a hearing between parties an order will still be made – because it can add clarity, reassurance and put things down in black and white to avoid confusion and stopping small understandings turning into a major problem. It’s worth pointing out that the Court does not have to accept whatever is agreed but it often does.
When there isn’t agreement the Court can impose whichever order it likes – regardless of whether one or both parties disagree with it.
Again – this is why ex partner and you should strive to find a solution you can agree on, because this can happen.
So what happens if you ignore a court order?
Whether you agree something that has then been turned into an order or else one has been imposed on you because you couldn’t come to agreement with your ex partner it makes no difference (although breaking an order you agreed to in Court is seen as particularly serious).
An order can contain several components. It can contain a Child Arrangements Order, a Specific Issues Order, A Prohibited Steps Order, etc. (or a combination of these). It can include a schedule that details when children are to see parents.
Another part – which isn’t in every order are `undertakings’. These are promises to the Court.
Either way – ignoring a court order is a big deal and you shouldn’t do it.
If you aren’t happy with an order, the correct procedure is to make an application to get it varied.
This is unlikely. But if you’re not happy with an order the correct procedure isn’t just to break it and hope nothing will happen.
Court orders aren’t optional. It’s not OK to break them unless you have extremely good grounds to do so. If you do break them the Court will decide if you have grounds. You will find yourself explaining to the Court why you felt able to break an order – that has been made in the best interests of your child..
At worst there are a number of things that can happen after you’ve broken an order:
- You could be found in Contempt of Court. Contempt of Court can involve up to 2 years in prison, a fine or both.
- The Court can make drastic changes to arrangements (such as reveral of residence, ordering contact take place in a supervised/supported environment).
- A penal order being made that states you can be imprisoned, fined or made to do community sentences.
Simple, yes? There are lot of severe penalties that can be put in place to ensure that orders are stuck to.
When can I break a court order?
In theory – the answer is `never’.
The Court realises that – as the old quote goes that `life happens when you make other plans’. Sometimes things just come up from time to time.
Returning a child late because you’ve been stuck in a traffic jam caused by a 57-car pile up is understandable. Doing it every week or else telling the ex you’re always going to be an hour late because you’ve unilaterally decided to do that or you just find it inconvenient or unfair isn’t and you’re unlikely to get much sympathy in a court hearing.
The Court will likewise be unimpressed with what can most charitably described as a `creative misinterpretation’ of an order. This includes being told contact takes place on alternate weekends but deciding a weekend means Saturday lunchtime till Sunday tea.
If you aren’t happy with an existing order and you cannot agree it changing with your ex the correct arena to change it is the Court itself. Should you convince the Court of your argument things can be amended in your favour.
Conclusion
The Court works on the principle that everyone is doing their best and that sometimes things go wrong. It understands that people get upset and make genuine mistakes.
But if you are seen to blatantly ignore orders for the simple reason you don’t like them, the Court has a wide range options open to it. As well as imprisonment and penal notices it can do things like reversal residence – i.e. if parent 1 has demonstrated they are unwilling to support a relationship between the child and parent 2 it may decide that parent 2 will.
In emergencies it is possible to make an application the very next morning most times to go to court to seek a temporary order while the Court decides a longer term plan. These are rare and have a high bar – you should only consider them in very extreme circumstances.
If you genuinely don’t like an order, it’s worth remembering your children grow fast and what is right now may not be right in 6 months when you could consider another application if the situation warrants it. But you will be expected to give a new order time to `bed in’ before doing so.
Of course…with us by your side you won’t need to remember any of this. You won’t need to worry about the (too common) unexpected stuff that comes up either. If you need that, your next step is to book an Ask Me Anything online session!
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
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