In an ideal world, families would be able to resolve any problems in-house, with everyone working together to find a solution to any issues they’re facing.
Sadly, we don’t live in an ideal world, and sometimes the courts need to get involved to help settle issues, offer some form of legal protection for family members, and make sure that everyone is able to properly function in their lives.
These are extremely sensitive matters, and of course very important too, and so it’s vital that any family court orders are treated with the respect and value that they deserve. This means making sure that they are ‘served’ quickly and efficiently to recipients, to ensure that proceedings can continue.
If you need help with process serving in blackburn for family court orders, we can help, but first let’s get into the detail of what we mean by family court orders and why it’s so important that you get professional help with serving them.
Types of Family Court Order
There are lots of different types of family court order that may be needed, depending on the situation with your family.
Specific Issue Orders
A Specific Issue Order is issued by the family court to resolve a specific question regarding a child’s upbringing when parents cannot agree. This can include decisions about the child’s education, medical treatments, or religious upbringing. The court evaluates the situation and makes a decision based on what is in the child’s best interests, ensuring their welfare.
Prohibited Steps Orders
A Prohibited Steps Order prevents a parent from taking certain actions concerning their child’s life without the court’s permission. This could involve stopping one parent from moving the child abroad or making significant changes to the child’s school or living arrangements. It aims to protect the child’s welfare by restricting potentially harmful actions.
Child Arrangements Orders
A Child Arrangements Order specifies where a child will live and outlines the arrangements for contact with each parent. This order helps to ensure that both parents remain involved in the child’s life, providing stability and routine. It can cover living arrangements, visitation schedules, and any other contact, tailored to the child’s needs.
Non Molestation Orders
A Non-Molestation Order protects individuals from abuse or harassment by their partner or ex-partner. It legally prohibits the abuser from contacting, threatening, or approaching the victim, offering a layer of security. This order is crucial for safeguarding individuals and children from domestic violence and preventing further harm.
Occupation Orders
An Occupation Order regulates who can live in the family home or enter its surrounding area. It can remove an abuser from the home or allow a victim to stay in the property without the abuser. This order is designed to protect victims of domestic violence, ensuring they have a safe living environment.
Pension Sharing Orders
A Pension Sharing Order divides pension benefits between divorcing or separating spouses. It ensures a fair distribution of pension assets, contributing to both parties’ financial security after the separation. This order is particularly important for providing future financial stability, especially when one spouse has significantly more pension savings than the other.
Maintenance Orders
A Maintenance Order mandates that one spouse or parent provides financial support to the other spouse or parent, or to their child. This financial support can cover essential living expenses, education, and other costs, ensuring the family’s well-being after separation. It helps maintain a stable quality of life for the affected family members.
How They Are Served
Generally, once you speak to a solicitor to make an application for any of these family court orders, they must then be served on all respondents – in other words, everyone who the court order relates to should receive the documents.
There are exceptions – typically with a non molestation order where there are concerns over the safety of the person making the application. In those cases, you would apply for an ex-parte non molestation order, where an interim court order could be granted until the judge can hear the case.
There are many different ways that family court orders can be served, including personal service, email, or posting in a letterbox. Personal service will typically be preferred but it will all depend on the circumstances.
If none of these options are available or viable, then other methods can be used as long as it can be shown that the order was brought to the respondent’s attention.
This means it’s possible to use apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp – if you can prove that they’ve received the order (and those apps will signify when a message is read) then it will typically be permitted.
However, in almost all cases, the applicant (the person requesting the court order) is not allowed to effect service, meaning they can’t be the ones to send the order.
Courts can facilitate service, but that can be slow. We’re aware of one case where a court issued a non molestation order but then failed to serve it for four months!
While those are the extremes, court service does tend to be slower and so using a process server is much more reliable and effective, and it means an increased chance of personal service – especially when the respondent is failing to respond to the case.
Why Use Us?
There are many benefits to using a private investigator as a process server, especially with family court orders.
Like we’ve said, personal service is often preferred and who better to serve documents in person than a PI with extensive experience in tracking someone down?
We also know the laws around process serving inside-out. This isn’t a small part of our business – we’ve worked with many solicitors for many years and will always make sure court orders are served in a timely manner, but most importantly one that is acceptable to the courts, with any necessary evidence needed.
If you’re looking for a process server in Blackburn or anywhere, for family court orders or indeed any other type of court document, give us a call on 01772 334700.