What is a Parenting Agreement?
If your relationship ends and you have children, you will need to agree where your children live. You will also need to decide how much time they spend with each parent. This is called making ‘child arrangements’.
Child arrangements are usually an informal agreement, but it can help to write them down.
You may have to go to Court if you cannot agree the arrangements, or if there are concerns around domestic abuse, or other safeguarding issues such as neglect, or emotional harm.
Reasons to make a Parenting Agreement
A Parenting Agreement can help because it shows clearly what arrangements and actions you have agreed to meet the needs of your child. Agreeing a plan can avoid you having to go to Court to reach such an agreement or have arrangements ordered by the Court. Agreeing a plan shows you are putting the child first and will always act in their best interests.
The benefits of making a Parenting Agreement together include: –
- refocusing on the needs of your child;
- giving your child a sense of stability and security;
- helping everyone involved know what is expected of them;
- creating a clear agreement to refer back to; and
- setting out practical decisions about your children, such as living arrangements, education and health care.
- Agreeing where your children live.
Things to consider
When you are deciding, you should try and think about:
- who has the most time to care for the children, and on which days – so you can make sure the children spend quality time with each parent.
- the things your children do – for example it might not be best for them to stay somewhere a long way from their schools on a school night.
- things that could happen in the future – for example if they might change schools, make sure they can get to their new one easily on a school night.
- If they do not live with you, the amount of time your children stay with you might affect how much maintenance you have to pay. For example, you can pay less maintenance if they spend 1 night a week at your house. This is to make up for the money you will spend looking after them. You can find out more about how much you must pay towards looking after your children on https://www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance.
When you are agreeing where your children will stay, you should also work out how you will keep in touch with them when they are staying with your ex-partner.
If you move away from your children, agree how you will keep up contact. You could ask your ex-partner to split travel costs or meet you somewhere with the children.
You will also need to consider how to get in touch with each other in case of emergencies.
Parenting Agreement
We can prepare a parenting agreement in a document reflecting the agreements you have reached with your ex-partner/ex-spouse. It will be useful to refer back to this document in the future, if you can’t remember what you agreed or if something is not working. You will both need to sign the document each retaining a copy. This document can be updated and amended at any time in the future should changes need to be made as the child gets older.
We can assist you in reaching an agreement with your ex-partner/ex-spouse and prepare a parenting agreement reflecting any agreement reached. We can also update/amend an existing parenting agreement.
Is a Parenting Agreement legally binding?
Technically, no. This is because it is not an order made by the Court. However, it will constitute a legal document. The Court has an overriding objective, known as the “no order principle”. Therefore, the Court will not make an order relating to a child unless it is necessary to do so, and it would be in the child’s best interests. This means, that if you reach an agreement with your ex-partner/ex-spouse, the Court would be reluctant to make an order, as the Court would not deem it necessary or in the child’s best interests where matters are agreed.
It should be borne in mind that often any arrangements that are made and agreed do have to be altered, so there needs to be a degree of flexibility in any arrangements made for a child.
Family law team
Julie Slater-Williams
Family Law | Head of Department | Partner
Experience
Julie qualified as a Solicitor in 2005. She has specialised in Family Law all through her career, throughout Staffordshire and Cheshire. In 2015, she joined Keelys LLP. Julie is a Partner and Head of Department.
Practice Area
Julie has practiced family law throughout her career, qualifying in 2005.
Julie has extensive experience of all areas of family law including divorce, dissolution of civil partnerships, private law children matters, special guardianship orders, pre nuptial and post nuptial agreements and financial matters on divorce / dissolution.
Julie has experience with high net worth cases including multi million pound assets, high value pensions and high value businesses. She regularly liaises with top tier counsel in cases involving unusual elements and arguments relating to conduct and intractable contact disputes and implacable hostility in children cases.
Julie is also a qualified collaborative solicitor. She is trained to assist clients in settlement focused manner where this is deemed appropriate. She has strong links with other collaborative solicitors. Julie’s ethos is to get to the heart of cases in as cost effective and stress reduced way as possible. Where this is not possible, Julie will advise and litigate to contested hearings to ensure that the matters that need to be dealt with are done so as swiftly and thoroughly as possible to ensure the needs of the client are met.
Qualifications
Solicitor
Interests
Julie is a keen reader, traveller and enjoys spending time with her children doing fun things.
Marie Bell
Family Law | Matrimonial Executive
Experience
Marie joined Keelys in December 2013. She has over 20 years experience of working within a family law department. Marie became a Graduate Member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (now known as CILEX Member – Advanced Paralegal) on the 25th March 2025 and she obtained her certificate in family law in August 2011. Marie is currently working towards her fellowship, with a view to becoming a CILEX Fellow.
Practice Area
Marie specialises in divorce and the resolution of financial matters. Marie also undertakes work in relation to separation agreements where unmarried couples were engaged and children proceedings.
Qualification
MCILEX
Reporting to
Head of Family Law department: Julie Slater-Williams
Interests
Out of work Marie enjoys the outdoors by volunteering on a Local Nature Reserve, walking and cruising the inland waterways on a narrowboat. She also enjoys wildlife photography.
Julie Cox
Family Law | Family Lawyer
Experience
Julie has over 10 years’ experience representing clients in family law cases in addition to Court advocacy representation.
Practice Area
Julie specialises in all private family matters, including divorce, judicial separation, dissolution of Civil Partnerships, cohabitation agreements and disputes, financial negotiations and settlements, pre and post-nuptial agreements, child arrangements and Injunctions.
Julie is known to have a pragmatic but empathetic approach and has a number of outstanding recommendations and reviews from previous clients.
Highlights
- International child relocation
- Return of a child in a child abduction case
- Successful defenses to Injunctions
- Prevention of dissipation of international assets in financial remedy case
Qualifications
CILEX
Reporting to
Head of Family Law department: Julie Slater-Williams
Nashmeen Malik
Family Law | Assistant
Experience
Nashmeen became part of Keelys Family team in June 2023 as a Matrimonial Assistant. Nashmeen has many years’ of experience assisting in relation to Family matter, Wills, LPAs, and Probate Law. In April 2023, Nashmeen successfully concluded her Paralegal Training and UK Legal System training at QLS Level 5.
Reporting to
Head of Family Law department: Julie Slater-Williams
Interests
Outside of the legal realm, Nashmeen is passionate about holistic healing, personal development, and spirituality. Graduating as a holistic life coach and Mind Body Practitioner in 2021, she finds delight in delving into literature on spirituality, neuroscience, and positive psychology, while also cherishing moments spent with her loved ones.
