LEGAL EAGLE: I don’t want violent husband to have access to my children

New divorce laws were introduced in the UK in April this year which mean that divorces are now issued on a non-fault basis. This means you no longer have to give grounds for wanting a divorce, but one or both of the parties must make a statement confirming that the marriage is beyond repair for the divorce to be granted.

This also means that a divorce can no longer be contested by one of the parties.

To apply under the new law: you must have been married for over a year; the marriage must be legally recognised in the UK, the UK must be the permanent home of one of the parties and one of both parties must make a statement confirming that the marriage has permanently broken down.

Even before this new law, the grounds for divorce had no bearing on any orders made by the courts regarding children, so this will not affect any decision the court makes about your husband having contact with the children.

All parents with parental responsibility have a legal right to have contact with their children unless there are safeguarding issues as to why they should not.

As a parent you also have a duty to safeguard your children and so should not allow contact if you believe the children are at risk.

It would then be up to your husband to apply to the court for a child arrangement order to allow him to have contact.

The court would make its own inquiries to assess all safeguarding issues before making a decision on what if any contact should be allowed.

Please contact us on 0191 565 3112 or email [email protected] for advice .

If you are worried that your husband would remove the children from your care, you can apply for a Prohibited Steps Order to prevent this from happening.