Relocation is one of the most significant and often emotionally charged issues separating or divorced parents face. Whether the move is across the country or just far enough to disrupt the existing contact schedule, it profoundly impacts child arrangements. If you are planning a move or opposing one, the question of your children’s future requires a considered, focused, and cooperative approach. This is precisely why family mediation is the clear and superior route for tackling parental relocation.
The Mediation Advantage: A Tailor-Made Solution
Relocation disputes are not simply about geography; they are about maintaining a child’s meaningful relationship with both parents, their stability, and their educational needs. This complexity demands a bespoke solution, which is what mediation is designed to deliver.
In mediation, you and the other parent sit down with a neutral, trained mediator to discuss every aspect of the proposed move. This conversation allows you to move beyond the immediate conflict and focus on your child’s best interests. You can collaboratively design a detailed, practical parenting plan that addresses:
New Contact Schedule: Creating new arrangements that work practically, perhaps involving longer holiday contact to compensate for less frequent term-time visits.
Travel Logistics and Costs: Who pays for travel, who does the driving, and how to manage long journeys for the child.
Communication: Specific plans for video calls and phone contact to ensure the non-moving parent remains a daily, active presence.
Schooling and Healthcare: Ensuring continuity or an easy transition for your child’s educational and medical needs.
The power of mediation is in the control it gives you. Unlike a court-imposed decision, any agreement reached in mediation is created by you—the two people who know your children best. This collaborative process not only produces a more workable plan but also improves cooperation and communication for future parenting decisions, which is vital for your children’s long-term welfare.
The Cost of a Court Battle: Why Delay Hurts
When parents cannot agree on a relocation, the next step is often a court application for a Specific Issue Order (to permit the move) or a Prohibited Steps Order (to prevent it). While the courts are there for a reason, leaving a complex relocation issue to a judge comes with significant challenges:
1. Imposed Solution vs. Tailor-Made
A court’s decision, after multiple hearings, is an imposed solution. The judge, who is a stranger to your family, applies the law and the welfare checklist to your facts. While the child’s welfare is paramount, the resulting order may not be as flexible, creative, or ultimately practical as one you could have worked out together.
2. Cost and Speed
Court proceedings are notoriously slow. Relocation applications can take 6 to 12 months, or even longer, due to court backlogs and the number of steps required (such as reports from Cafcass). This lengthy delay leaves the entire family in limbo, causing significant stress and uncertainty for the children.
Furthermore, legal representation for a contested court application is significantly more expensive than mediation, often running into thousands of pounds for each parent. Mediation is invariably the quicker and more cost-effective option.
3. The Evidential Burden: Producing the Comprehensive Witness Statement
When applying to the court for permission to relocate, the sheer volume and depth of evidence required can be overwhelming. The court approaches these applications with caution, and the applicant’s primary submission is their Witness Statement.
This statement must be detailed and cover a full range of topics. Gaps may lead to to a judicial request for further information or a dismissal of the application.
Mandatory Content and Exhibits for the Applicant’s Witness Statement
Your witness statement must be a self-contained document covering the following areas in depth, with appropriate documentary evidence attached as exhibits (such as contracts, brochures, and photographs):
I. Foundational & Background History
Relationship History: Include a full and objective history of the parties’ relationship, focusing particularly on co-parenting practices and communication immediately before the application.
II. The Proposed Move Logistics
Accommodation and Practicalities: Provide a clear explanation of the proposed move. This includes detailed practicalities such as where the applicant and the child will live. You must exhibit photographs of the proposed accommodation and explain why it is a suitable, safe, and stable environment for the child.
Cost and Funding: Provide comprehensive information about the estimated cost of relocation (e.g., removal costs, rent deposits, initial living expenses) and exactly how this will be funded.
III. Child’s Education and Welfare
Schooling Research: Exhibit and describe the research undertaken into the new area’s schools. Clearly identify the new school selected, and provide a detailed explanation of why it is a suitable school for the child, focusing on their specific needs and interests.
Comparison and Status: Exhibit brochures, term dates, and photographs of the proposed school. Compare it objectively to the child’s current school. Confirm whether the applicant and child have visited the proposed school and whether a place has been formally secured or reserved.
IV. Motivation and Impact
Motivation for the Move: Give comprehensive details about the motivation for the move. If the move is motivated by new employment, provide detailed supporting evidence about the new role, income, and associated benefits.
Effect of Refusal: Outline what the potential effect of a refusal of the application will be. This may require sensitive disclosure of personal information—for example, if the emotional effect of any refusal is significant, it may involve disclosure of the applicant’s medical records if they have a history of depression or ill health related to their inability to relocate.
New Partners (If Applicable): Provide details of any new partner, including an explanation of why that partner cannot or will not relocate without the applicant.
V. Future Contact Proposals
Direct and Indirect Contact Plan: Explain exactly what will happen to the child’s contact with the respondent following relocation. This requires giving detailed, practical, and generous proposals for both direct (in-person visits) and indirect (video/phone calls) contact.
Travel Arrangements: Confirm how long travel between the two locations will take and what the cost of travel will be. It is highly recommended that the applicant proactively offer to meet all or a substantial part of these travel costs to demonstrate commitment to maintaining the relationship.
Childcare Arrangements: Confirm the proposed childcare arrangements in the new location and detail how these will be dealt with in comparison with existing arrangements.
Take the First Step: Talk to a Mediator
If you are facing a dispute over parental relocation, your initial required step is to attend a meeting with a mediator, sometimes referred to as a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting or MIAM. This session will explore whether mediation is suitable for your situation.
Choosing mediation means choosing a path of less conflict, lower cost, greater speed, and most importantly, a personalised and stable outcome for your children.