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As of the 22nd April 2014, it has not been necessary for a Statement of Arrangements for Children form (also known as a D8a) to be filed along with a divorce petition if any minor children were born to, or lived with, the Petitioner and Respondent.

Previously, it was necessary to file this document in order to show the court that appropriate arrangements were in place for any minor children that would have been affected by the divorce. Due to recent changes to family law, however, Section 41 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 – which stipulated that the courts were required to consider whether or not it was necessary to exercise any of the powers afforded to it by the Children Act 1989 within divorce proceedings – has been repealed. As a result of this, the court is no longer required to consider whether appropriate arrangements are in place for the children of a divorcing couple; hence why it is no longer necessary for such a form to be submitted when the couple file for a divorce.

Previously, if the judge that reviewed the divorce application felt that suitable arrangements were not in place, they could refuse to grant the divorce until they were satisfied with the provisions that the parents had in place. To say that this was rare would be an understatement, though. Quickie Divorce have dealt with hundreds of thousands of divorces over the last decade and have not once had an application rejected as a result of the arrangements outlined within one of these forms. Indeed, this is more than likely why they have been removed from the divorce process.

The courts have long recognised that the arrangements that a divorcing couple may put in place for their children could take a multitude of different forms and have been extremely flexible as a result. Therefore, the process of reviewing a Statement of Arrangements for Children form had become, one could argue, superfluous and, by removing it from the divorce process, vital time could be freed up for both the court’s staff and the judiciary.

Parents who are unable to agree arrangements for their children may still take the matter to court by requesting that the court issue a child arrangement order which will specify with whom the child/ren will live and with whom they are to have contact and make these agreements legally binding.