Going against a family court order

Part of: Your First Family Court Hearing

Going against a family court order is contempt of court, not a criminal offence. That distinction matters: a breach does not give you a criminal record, and it is not dealt with by the police, but the family court can order you to do unpaid work, order you to compensate the other parent, fine you, or send you to prison for up to two years. There is one significant exception — breaching a non-molestation order is a criminal offence under section 42A of the Family Law Act 1996, carrying up to five years’ imprisonment.

Key takeaways

• A breach is contempt of court, not a crime. The exception is a non-molestation order, breach of which is a criminal offence under section 42A of the Family Law Act 1996.
• The court must be sure. It can only make an enforcement order if it is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you failed to comply (section 11J(2), Children Act 1989).
• But the burden of proving a reasonable excuse is on you. Section 11J(4) puts it on the person claiming the excuse, on the balance of probabilities. Document everything at the time, not afterwards.
• No warning notice, no enforcement order. The court cannot make one unless you had already been given the warning notice attached to the order (section 11K). Orders made from 8 December 2008 include one automatically.
• Enforcement order = 40 to 200 hours of unpaid work, monitored by the probation service.
• Apply on form C79. The court fee is £270. Varying an order instead is form C100, also £270.
• Prison is real but rare. It is reserved for persistent, deliberate defiance — see the two reported cases below.
• Vary the order; do not simply ignore it. An application to vary is almost always a better position to be in than a breach.

Written by Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant. Reviewed by Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist at Kabir Family Law, who works on Children Act 1989 proceedings in the family courts of England and Wales. This guide covers the law of England and Wales.

Is going against a family court order a criminal offence?

No. Breaching a family court order is contempt of court, which is a civil matter dealt with by the family court, not a criminal offence prosecuted by the state. You will not get a criminal record for breaching a child arrangements order, and the police will not normally become involved.

That is not the same as saying nothing happens. Contempt of court carries real punishment, including imprisonment for up to two years, and the family court has a separate statutory enforcement scheme for child arrangements orders under the Children Act 1989. The practical difference is who takes the action: the other parent applies to enforce, rather than the Crown prosecuting you.

There is one important exception. Breaching a non-molestation order is a criminal offence under section 42A of the Family Law Act 1996, carrying up to five years’ imprisonment on conviction on indictment. Where that applies, the police do become involved. The Act also prevents double punishment: if you are convicted of the offence, that conduct cannot also be punished as contempt, and vice versa (sections 42A(3) and 42A(4)).

What happens when there is a breach of a court order in the family court?

When you break a family court order, the other parent applies to the court, and the court chooses between two routes: an enforcement order, or contempt proceedings. Most applications end in an enforcement order, because the court’s first aim is to secure future compliance rather than to punish past conduct.

Before it can do anything, the court must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you failed to comply with the order — the criminal standard, applied in a family court (section 11J(2), Children Act 1989). A minor deviation that you notified in advance, or a single missed handover for a genuine reason, is unlikely to meet that bar.

Courts respond in stages. A first breach often results in a warning or a referral to mediation. Repeated breaches invite an enforcement order. Only sustained and deliberate defiance usually leads to committal. The court must also consider the welfare of the child, the effect of the order on the person breaching it, and whether unpaid work is available locally, before making an enforcement order (section 11L, Children Act 1989).

How to enforce a family court order: applying on form C79

You enforce a child arrangements order by applying to the family court on form C79. Before you apply, check that the order carries a warning notice, because without one the court cannot make an enforcement order at all.

1. Check the order for a warning notice. Orders made on or after 8 December 2008 include one automatically. If yours is older, apply on form C78 to have one attached first. The court “may not make an enforcement order” unless the person had already been given the notice (section 11K, Children Act 1989).
2. Keep a breach log. Record the date, the time, what was supposed to happen, what actually happened, the reason given, and the evidence — messages, emails, a contact-centre note. A contemporaneous log is worth far more than a recollection given months later.
3. Raise it in writing first. Ask what the problem is and propose a solution. The court will want to see that you tried. Keep it factual and unemotional; this correspondence will be read by a judge.
4. Consider mediation. You will usually need to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting before applying, unless an exemption such as domestic abuse applies.
5. Complete form C79 and pay the fee. The fee is £270. Guidance leaflet CB5 explains the form, and our full guide to form C79 walks through each section of it. Send it to the court nearest you that deals with children cases.
6. Say what you want the court to do. An enforcement order, compensation for financial loss, or both. Be specific about the loss and evidence it with receipts.
7. Attend the hearing. The court will decide whether a breach is proved beyond reasonable doubt, and whether the other parent has shown a reasonable excuse on the balance of probabilities.

Form C79 also covers applications to revoke or amend an existing enforcement order, to change the hours of unpaid work, to extend the 12-month period for completing that work, and to take action after an enforcement order itself has been breached.

If the order is unworkable rather than being ignored, the better route is to apply to vary the order rather than to enforce it.

How much does it cost to enforce or vary a court order?

The fee to apply to enforce a child arrangements order on form C79 is £270. The fee to apply to vary an existing order on form C100 is also £270. These are the court fees only; any legal fees are separate, and Help with Fees may be available if you are on a low income or on certain benefits.

Two points that catch people out. First, the £119 fee is for action on an enforcement order that already exists — an initial enforcement application is £270, and only a subsequent breach application is £119. Second, if proceedings about the same child are already live, the applications-within-proceedings fee applies instead of the £270 fee.

These figures are the fees in force from 13 July 2026. Court fees are uprated periodically, so check the current figure before you send the form.

Is there a reasonable excuse to breach a child arrangements order?

Yes, but you have to prove it. The court cannot make an enforcement order if it is satisfied you had a reasonable excuse for failing to comply, and section 11J(4) of the Children Act 1989 places the burden of proof squarely on “the person claiming to have had a reasonable excuse”, to the standard of the balance of probabilities.

That single provision is the most important thing on this page. It means the default position is against you. If you stop contact and do not build the evidence at the time, you will be arguing months later, in front of a judge, that something you cannot document justified a breach that the other parent can document precisely.

What tends to be accepted as a reasonable excuse:

• a genuine medical emergency or serious illness, evidenced by a GP or hospital record;
• a new and specific safeguarding concern — a disclosure by the child, evidence of substance misuse, domestic abuse — reported to the appropriate agency at the time;
• circumstances genuinely outside your control, such as severe weather or transport failure, notified promptly;
• the child being genuinely and persistently resistant, where you have actively encouraged the contact and can show it.

What tends not to be accepted: a single reluctant child on a single day, a clashing social arrangement, unpaid child maintenance, a new partner you dislike, or a dispute about handover logistics that was never raised in writing. “The child did not want to go” is the most commonly offered and most commonly rejected excuse, because the court expects the resident parent to promote contact rather than simply relay the child’s preference.

Timing and conduct matter as much as the concern itself. The court will look at whether you notified the other parent, whether you offered alternative contact, whether you involved a professional, and whether you applied to vary the order or for an urgent order. Two parents with identical concerns can get very different outcomes on those points alone.

What to do if you must break an order to protect your child

If you genuinely believe your child is at risk, protect the child first — then move immediately to put your position on a proper footing. The steps you take in the days after a breach are what the court will judge you on, because they show whether you were acting protectively or obstructively.

1. Tell the other parent in writing, straight away. Say what has happened and what you are worried about, factually and without accusation. Silence reads as obstruction.
2. Report the concern to the right agency. Children’s services, the police, the GP or the school, as appropriate. Independent professional involvement is the evidence a court values most, and it is the thing missing from most failed reasonable-excuse arguments.
3. Offer alternative contact. Supervised contact, a contact centre, video calls. Offering something shows you are protecting the child rather than ending the relationship.
4. Apply to the court without waiting to be taken there. Apply to vary the order on form C100, or for an urgent prohibited steps order if the risk is immediate. Being the applicant is a materially better position than being the respondent to an enforcement application.
5. Take advice before you act, if there is any time at all to do so. A short conversation before a breach is worth far more than a long one afterwards.

Where a concern is about the safety of contact itself, our guide to the reasons to stop child contact sets out how the court approaches it. If you are unsure, our child law specialists can tell you whether your concern is likely to meet the threshold before you act on it.

Can a parent stop a child from seeing the other parent?

Not where a child arrangements order is in force, unless there is a genuine welfare concern — stopping contact in breach of an order is contempt of court and exposes you to enforcement. Where there is no order, a parent can in practice withhold contact, but the other parent can apply to the court and the withholding will count against them.

It is often said that a child has a legal right to see both parents. That is not quite what the law says. Since 22 October 2014 the court must presume, unless the contrary is shown, that the involvement of each parent in a child’s life will further that child’s welfare (section 1(2A), Children Act 1989). It is a rebuttable presumption, not a right, and section 1(2B) makes clear that “involvement” means involvement of some kind, direct or indirect, and “not any particular division of a child’s time”. Above all of it sits the welfare principle in section 1(1): the child’s welfare is the court’s paramount consideration.

So a parent who withholds contact because of a real, evidenced risk is in a very different position from one who withholds it out of anger at the other parent. The first may establish a reasonable excuse; the second is likely to face an enforcement order and to damage their own credibility for the rest of the case.

Where there is no order in place, try to agree arrangements directly, then through mediation. Our team can assist with child contact arrangements and, where agreement is not possible, with an application to the court.

How to deal with a mother or father who keeps breaking a court order

If your ex is not sticking to the order, build a record, raise it in writing each time, and then apply to enforce. A pattern of breaches, each documented at the time with the excuse that was given, is far more persuasive than a general complaint that the other parent is difficult.

The court applies the same test whichever parent is in breach: section 11J of the Children Act 1989 is written in neutral terms, and the section 1(2A) presumption applies to the involvement of each parent. Two of the reported cases below concern mothers, but nothing in the statute turns on which parent broke the order.

Look for the pattern rather than the individual incident. If the same excuse recurs — the child is always ill on alternate Fridays, work always overruns before a holiday handover — set the dates out in a table and let it speak for itself. Courts are alert to a reasonable excuse being used as cover for a deliberate pattern.

The court’s powers are wider than most parents expect. As well as an enforcement order and compensation, it can vary the existing order, change the amount of contact or the child’s living arrangements if breaches continue, and direct a parent to attend a Separated Parents Information Programme or other activity. It can also make a family assistance order to provide short-term support to the family.

Where one parent persistently undermines the child’s relationship with the other, the court may treat that as a welfare issue in its own right when deciding future arrangements. Our guide on child access and child contact explains how those decisions are approached.

What happens if I break a prohibited steps order?

Breaching a prohibited steps order is contempt of court, and because these orders usually exist to prevent something serious and irreversible, the court tends to treat a breach seriously. The likely consequences run from a costs order to committal to prison.

A prohibited steps order forbids a specific act — removing a child from your care, taking a child out of the country, changing a child’s school or surname. Unlike an enforcement order under section 11J, which applies to child arrangements orders, a breach of a prohibited steps order is dealt with as contempt.

The court can also act to undo the damage. It can order the child’s return, order that a passport be surrendered and held where international travel is the concern, and make further orders regulating the child’s arrangements. Where a breach shows that a parent will not respect the court’s authority, the court can and does change where the child lives.

Breaching spousal maintenance orders

Where an ex-partner stops paying spousal maintenance ordered by the court, you can apply to enforce the order and recover the arrears with interest. The family court’s enforcement powers for money orders are set out in Part 33 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010.

Act promptly. Arrears that became due more than twelve months before enforcement proceedings begin cannot be enforced without the leave of the court (section 32(1), Matrimonial Causes Act 1973). Leave is not always given: the court may refuse it, grant it subject to conditions, or remit the arrears altogether. Arrears within twelve months can be pursued without that hurdle.

The court can order payment of the arrears and interest, and can order the non-paying party to pay your costs. It can also issue a judgment summons, which carries the threat of imprisonment where a debtor has the means to pay and will not. Our guide to the enforcement of financial court orders sets out the options in more detail.

Can a UK family court order be enforced abroad?

Often, yes — but the route changed after Brexit. For cases starting after 31 December 2020, recognition and enforcement of orders about parental responsibility runs through the 1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children, not through the EU instruments that used to apply.

This is worth stating plainly because a great deal of published guidance is now out of date. The Brussels IIa Regulation was revoked and ceased to apply to the United Kingdom at the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020. The European Enforcement Order Regulation no longer applies either, and in any event never covered child arrangements orders, being confined to uncontested civil and commercial money claims. Do not rely on any of them.

The instruments that now matter are:

• The 1996 Hague Convention — jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of measures relating to parental responsibility, including child arrangements orders. It has been in force for the United Kingdom since 1 November 2012, and has been the primary instrument as between the UK and EU states since 1 January 2021.
• The 1980 Hague Convention — the return of children wrongfully removed or retained abroad. In force for the United Kingdom since 1 August 1986.
• The 2007 Hague Convention — the international recovery of maintenance, used with other contracting states including EU member states other than Denmark.

Where a country is party to none of these, enforcement depends on that country’s own law and on any bilateral arrangement, and can be slow or impossible. That is a material factor if you are considering agreeing to a child spending time in such a country. Our team advises on international child access where an order needs to work across a border.

Has a parent ever been sent to prison for breaching a child arrangements order?

Yes, though it is uncommon and is generally reserved for deliberate, repeated defiance. Two reported cases show the range.

In Raza v Gall [2023] EWFC 181 (B), a mother was committed for breaching an order requiring her to attend a contact centre meeting giving effect to an interim child arrangements order. She had told the court, “If you want, arrest me but I am not allowing the father to see my child.” The judge held that “a proportionate period of imprisonment is 28 days” but suspended the sentence on terms that she attend. That is the typical shape of these cases: the court’s aim is compliance, and the suspended sentence is the lever.

In Allami v Fakher [2023] EWCA Civ 532, the Court of Appeal upheld a six-month immediate custodial sentence imposed for breach of a series of orders made in the Family Division in proceedings concerning the appellant’s two children. The appeal was dismissed and the sentence stood.

Two practical points follow. First, committal requires strict procedural compliance: in CH v CT [2018] EWHC 1310 (Fam) a three-month suspended committal of a mother for breaching a child arrangements order was set aside because the penal notice did not comply with the Family Procedure Rules. Second, and more importantly for most readers: the overwhelming majority of enforcement applications end in an enforcement order or a variation, not in a prison sentence.

Frequently asked questions

How do you report a breach of a court order?

You report it to the family court, not to the police. Breaching a child arrangements order is contempt of court rather than a crime, so the way to report it is to apply to the family court on form C79. The police will act only where a non-molestation order has been breached, because that is a criminal offence, or where a child is at immediate risk.

Can you be fined for going against a family court order?

Yes. A fine is one of the punishments available for contempt of court, alongside seizure of assets and committal to prison. In practice the family court more often makes an enforcement order requiring 40 to 200 hours of unpaid work, or orders compensation for financial loss, because those are aimed at securing compliance rather than punishing.

How much does it cost to enforce a family court order?

The court fee for an enforcement application on form C79 is £270. Acting on the breach of an enforcement order that already exists costs £119. Attaching a warning notice to an older order on form C78 costs £57. Legal fees are separate, and Help with Fees may be available.

What happens if both parents agree to ignore a family court order?

The order stays legally binding. An informal agreement between you has no legal force, so if the relationship sours either of you can revert to the order and enforce it. If the arrangement has genuinely changed, apply jointly to vary the order — a consent order is usually straightforward when both parents agree.

How many breaches before you can be imprisoned for contempt of court?

There is no fixed number. A single serious breach can result in committal, and many repeated minor breaches may not. The court looks at how deliberate the breach was, its effect on the child, and whether you have complied since. A custodial sentence becomes more likely with a pattern of deliberate defiance, and prison remains the last resort.

Can an emergency justify breaking a child arrangement order?

A genuine emergency can amount to a reasonable excuse — serious illness, hospitalisation, an immediate safety concern. Remember that section 11J(4) of the Children Act 1989 puts the burden of proving it on you, so tell the other parent immediately, keep the evidence, and offer to make the contact up.

Can I vary a family court order instead of breaching it?

Yes, and you should. Apply on form C100, fee £270. Try to agree the change with the other parent first, because the court prefers a consent order. Variations take time, so if the concern is urgent apply for an urgent hearing rather than simply stopping contact.

Can I lose custody for repeatedly breaching a child arrangement order?

The court can change where a child lives if persistent breaches are harming the child’s welfare, and it does so occasionally. It is an extreme step, taken where a parent has ignored repeated warnings and is preventing the child’s relationship with the other parent. Repeated breaches also damage your credibility on every other issue in the case, and can result in a costs order against you.

Is a child arrangements order enforceable?

Yes, provided it contains a warning notice. Orders made on or after 8 December 2008 include one automatically; for older orders you apply on form C78 to have one attached. Without the warning notice having been given, the court may not make an enforcement order (section 11K, Children Act 1989).

Speak to our family law specialists

If an order is being breached, or you are facing an enforcement application, the sooner you get advice the more options you have. Our child law specialists can tell you whether a breach is likely to be provable, whether an excuse is likely to be accepted, and whether enforcement or variation is the better application to make.

Call us on 0330 094 5880, let us call you back, or book a time that suits you. We can meet you at our York office or at our other offices across England and Wales.