Right to apply - C21 Order

Good evening,

I'm hoping someone can help me.

My ex husband is taking me to court for 50/50 shared care of our children. He currently has 6 nights out of 14.

I have received a C21 court order. It states a dispute resolution meeting has been arranged in February.

On page 1 of the order it states:

Right to apply

As these directions have been made without a hearing you may ask the court to reconsider this order. You must do that within seven days of receiving this order by writing to the court (and notifying any other party) and asking the court to reconsider. Alternatively, the court may reconsider the directions at the hearing

Can someone please explain this to me? What changes could be actioned by writing within the 7 days? Could evidence be provided to change the order? Very confused.


Thanks in advance.

The order is for you (both) to attend a dispute resolution hearing - this is likely to be mediation.

If you believe that mediation isn't suitable, and you are exempt because of domestic abuse then you can write to the court and ask them to reconsider thier order for that reason, give details of the domestic abuse, and provide any evidence you may have such as police crime numbers, medical information, evidence of support from a domestic abuse agency, etc.

Parents are required by law to attend a mediation MIAM before submitting a C100 application, and courts expect parents to have made a good attempt at dispute resolution before getting to court. Judges can, and do (as you have found out) order parents to attend dispute resolution during proceedings in the hope that the matter can be agreed between the parties with the help of a mediator/DR specialist.