With Stoke-on-Trent schools breaking up for half term this week, a family law specialist is urging separated parents to plan early and communicate clearly, warning that holiday changes can trigger child arrangement disputes.

Emma James, family law solicitor at Smith Partnership's Stoke office, said: "Often, parents might have a normal arrangement that they've got in term time, but haven't sorted out arrangements for holidays, so school holidays can be a challenge."

"Usually, the main flare up is due to lack of communication," she explained.

"One parent might believe that they are clear about what's happening, but if it hasn't actually been voiced to the other parent, that parent may genuinely not know what the other parent is planning.

"Sometimes it can also be a challenge if the parents have tried to communicate through the children. Children can then get stuck in the middle of that."

When asked what advice she would give to a parent who is worried that the other parent could block half term contact, Emma said: "I think communication is key. You can only start to sort things out if you can communicate.

"That doesn't necessarily mean speaking to the other party. There are lots of different means of communication, such as telephone, text, or WhatsApp.

"With things like text messages and emails, you can't hear tone of voice, so sometimes those types of messages can be misconstrued. Another option is for parents to use a Parenting App which can be used to share information. 

advertisement

"There are other solutions outside of court, such as mediation, which can help parents to discuss and resolve matters with a trained mediator who is an independent third party."

Alongside half term pressures, Emma said parents in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford are also seeing a change in how children arrangements are handled, following the rollout of the private law Pathfinder model locally.

"Pathfinder is a brand new, completely different model of dealing with children arrangements in the family court for separated parents," Emma explained.

"It was introduced because it was felt that the family court system wasn't really supporting parents where there may be a risk of harm.

"Cases could become very long and drawn out. Pathfinder is designed to improve the experience for families involved in court cases, using a problem-solving approach, helping families to reach child focussed agreements, that are safe.

"One of the biggest changes is that, under the previous approach, parents could wait weeks for the first hearing and could find themselves quite disappointed that not much progress could be made.

"Under Pathfinder, by the time that parents may find themselves before the court on the first occasion, there'll be a full, detailed report called the Child Impact Report, which is likely to include safeguarding information, information from the parents and third-party agencies, and also recommendations for the next steps.

"For any families where domestic abuse is a feature, a risk assessment will also be done. The procedure is quite quick, as it takes about 6 weeks to complete so by the time you go to court on the first occasion, the court will already have the full report."

advertisement

Emma said some families may not need to attend court at all: "If they are able to reach agreement during the preparation of the Child Impact Report, then the judge could make an order without the parties being required to go to court.

"For those parents who need urgent help from the court, for example if a child is in danger, Pathfinder still makes sure that the court deals with urgent applications and makes any necessary urgent orders.

"Under Pathfinder, the orders that the court can make are still exactly the same. The application forms are also still the same. It's just how the court deals with the application once it arrives with them that has changed.

When asked what advice Emma would give to parents who make an application under the new Pathfinder procedure, she said: "If you are making a court application, make sure your application is as detailed as possible.

"If you have got any safeguarding concerns, it's extremely important that the court has information about those within the paperwork."

On half term arrangements themselves, Emma said there is no single template. "Every family is different. Equally, every child is different."

As a possible starting point, Emma said: "Think of a model for the holidays that allows you to continue with your term time arrangements, but with these arrangements being tweaked.

"For example, if you usually spend time with your children on alternate weekends, a starting point could be to extend this arrangement so that the handover takes place mid-week in the half-term as this would enable you to share the holiday between you.

advertisement

 "Under Pathfinder, the court's approach is problem solving. It's about how the parents can be helped to come up with a solution, so it's completely different than how it was before."

This is a sponsored article. If it wasn't for sponsors like Smith Partnership, our news site would not be possible - thank you.

If you own a local business and would like to sponsor us, get in touch at [email protected].