The majority of court orders regarding children are broken but still, a record number of parents are going to court and without a lawyer- WHY?

In this series of 3 short blogs I answer 3 fundamental questions.

1.What drives parents to court with or without a lawyer?

2.Why is this so damaging?

3.What are the answers?

Let’s start with the first one,

What drives so many parents to court?

In nearly all these cases trust and constructive communication have broken down leaving one or both parents feeling powerless.

Many parents believe that they need to obtain a binding court order to regain some of that power and hold their partners accountable.

The irony is that by going to court they are simply handing over this power to the Judge to make the decisions.

This approach also often locks them in to a cycle of court applications every time things change, condemning themselves and their children to months and years of court proceedings and unresolved conflict !’

It is no wonder that around 70% of court orders are broken and the vast majority of these never enforced.

Some parents are driven by feelings of anger, the need to punish or the need to win a personal battle going on between themselves.

These parents often lose a sense of perspective and sight of what is they are trying to resolve and who for.

Many others have simply reached the end of their tether and are unaware of suitable and affordable alternatives to the court process.

Do any of these reasons justify the impact of continuous court battles on the children.

My next blog in this series looks at why going to court is so damaging.