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c100 draft

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draft guide to c100

The online application is quite different to the paper C100 form – with the online application you are asked a lot of safeguarding questions before you even get to the section asking why you are making the application. It can be frustrating at times but answer the safeguarding questions honestly so that the court have a good overview within the application of any risks or actual harm to either the children or yourself. Domestic abuse is not just physical abuse, it also covers a wide range of abusive behaviours, such as coercive control, financial control, gaslighting, emotional/psychological abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, online harassment and stalking and “Honour”-based violence/abuse. Domestic abuse is suffered by both women and men, and children who either are abused directly or witness a parent’s abuse.

For help, support, and further information about domestic abuse you can contact:

Refuge (for female victims)

Men’s’ Advice Line (for male victims)

Refuge (for children)

What you will need to complete your application

When you first open the online application, you will see this screen which contains the details of the important information you will need to complete the application. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the information to hand as you can save your progress and return to the application when you have the required information.

Saving your application and progress

At the bottom of most pages, you will see these two buttons. This allows you to save your progress either as you progress with the application, or to come back continue the application later.

To save your progress, you will need to create an account with Gov.UK. Once your account has been created, they will keep a draft of your application for 28 days, after which it will be deleted, so make sure you complete and submit your application well within that time frame. You will see this screen:

Where do your children live?

What kind of application do you want to make?

You are asked which order(s)you are applying for. In most cases, applicants will be applying for a Child Arrangements Order, a Specific Issue Order, or a Prohibited Steps Order. It is possible to apply for more than one of these orders within the same application.

If you are unsure which order(s) you need to apply for, you can read our guide here; or call our helpline on 01202 805020

Select the appropriate response.

Are the children involved in any emergency protection, care or supervision proceedings?

Select the appropriate response.

The next set of questions is about attending mediation, and a MIAM (Mediation Assessment and Information Meeting). Parents must attend a MIAM before applying, unless they are exempt.

You can find out the list of exemptions here - About MIAM Exemptions.

Please provide the details of your MIAM and mediator used in the appropriate response boxes.

MIAM Information

Attending a MIAM

Details of Your MIAM

Safety Concerns for either yourself or your children

This next section is about any safety concerns you may have about your children. Safety concerns include threat/risk of abduction, physical/emotional/sexual or domestic abuse either from someone within their household or someone who associates with their household. Remember, this includes the risk of harm as well as actual harm.

If you are a victim of domestic abuse, have a domestic abuse or other injunction in place, or have good reason to believe your ex (or their family) may be a risk to your safety if they are made aware of your home address, you can select “YES” to keep your contact details private from the respondent. It is very important that you ensure that all future documents shared with the court and the respondent do not contain your contact details.

Are your children at risk of abduction?

If you believe the children are at risk from being taken out of the United Kingdom without your consent, or permission from the court, tick YES. You will then be asked further questions about the children and the risk of abduction. More advice and information can be found in our guide here, and at https://www.reunite.org/Abduction is unlawful removal of children under the age of 18 from the United Kingdom, without obtaining the consent of all those with Parental Responsibility or leave from the Court.

If your children are not at risk of abduction, tick no, and continue to the next question.

If you answer YES, you will then be asked another set of questions about the risk or actual abduction, including any previous attempts or abductions.

If you answer NO, you will be taken to further questions about the children’s risk of harm.

Further questions about the risk of abduction

Answer these questions as best you can. If you have not already notified the police of the potential abduction, pause your application here while you contact the Police.

If you answer YES, you will be asked some questions about your children’s passports.

If your children have been previously abducted, or there have been previous threats of abduction (even for one night), answer YES, and you will then be asked a set of additional questions about this.

If the answer is NO, you will then be taken to the next section.

Provide as much detail as you can – dates, by whom, where, for how long, what actions you took, which agencies or police authorities were involved, if you sought any court orders to have the children returned. You can expand the text box by clicking and dragging the bottom right corner, where the three diagonal lines are.

Provide as much detail as you, including details of everyone with whom the children may be with, where they may be taken to and the other parent’s connections to that country. If you know where the children are after being taken, be as specific as you can; and state how long they have been there.

If the children haven’t been abducted but you believe there is a real risk they may be, provide details as to where you believe they are currently located and share any plans of the other parent that you may know of, such as intended leaving date/route/method of transport.

You can expand the text boxes by clicking and dragging the bottom right corner, where the three diagonal lines are.

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Concerns about Drugs

Domestic Abuse - Children

If you answer YES, you will be taken to additional questions about the abuse your children are experiencing or at risk of. You can find out more about the type of child abuse here - What is Child abuse? If you have answered NO, you will be taken to the next question.

If you have stated that your children are at risk of harm either immediately or in the future, you will now be asked some questions about this.

Further questions about the types of abuse your children may be suffering

If you answer YES, you will be asked further questions about this abuse on the next screen.

Domestic Abuse - Yourself

If you answer YES, you will be asked further questions about the domestic abuse you are experiencing, have suffered, or are at risk of. IF you answer NO you will be taken to the next question.

Domestic abuse is not just physical abuse, it also covers a wide range of abusive behaviours, such as coercive control, financial control, gaslighting, emotional/psychological abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, online harassment and stalking and “Honour”-based violence/abuse. Domestic abuse is suffered by both women and men. For help, support, and further information about domestic abuse you can contact:

Refuge (for female victims)

Men’s’ Advice Line (for male victims)

Further questions about the types of abuse you may be suffering

If you answer YES, you will be asked further questions about this abuse on the next screen.

Have you had, or currently have any orders made by the court for your protection?

If you answer YES, you will be asked for more details on the next screen.

Contact between the children and other people in this application

If you are willing for your children to spend time with the respondent (usually the other parent) while you wait for a hearing date, tick yes. If you have raised safety concerns either for the children or yourself, you will need to consider if ticking yes would put either the children or yourself at risk of further abuse. If you think this is likely to happen, you can tick that you agree to supervised contact, or that you don’t agree to the children spending time with the other parent. It is important to make sure that you and your children are safe, and to not tick yes to unsupervised contact if that scenario would put you or your children in harm’s way.

The second part asks about other forms of contact (usually called indirect contact). You need to decide if you are willing for the respondent to communicate with your children indirectly, such as phone or video calls, instant messaging, or email. IF you are worried about yours or your children’s safety, you could buy a cheap pay-as-you-go phone and use that as a dedicated phone for the other parent to contact your children on; or set up a dedicated email address for the other parent and your children to communicate.

What are you asking the Court to decide about the children involved?

Depending on what you ticked at the beginning of the application will depend on what you now need to select from the above list. You can select as many as is necessary; but keep it relevant to the issues at hand.

A Child Arrangements Order will set out with which parent the children will live with, (a lives with order) and with which parent they will otherwise spend time with (contact), and how often that will be. It is possible to have a joint life with order, which means the children lives with both of you at separate times.

A Prohibited Steps Order prevents a parent from taking a certain action, such as moving abroad, or changing a child’s name or school.

A Specific Issue Order decides an issue on which the parents can not agree on, such as changing a child’s name or school, or moving the children abroad.

Once you have selected your particular issues, you will see a screen similar to the one above, confirming your choices and setting out which Orders you are applying for.

Is there anything else the Court to decide, to specifically protect your children?

You have an option to apply for a Non-Molestation Order if you or the children are suffering from, or are at risk of violence, abuse or harm. Ticking this box will mean a separate hearing for the Non-Molestation Order, and the respondent will be given notice of the application.

If you didn’t include issues which would fall under either a Prohibited Steps or Specific Issues Order, such as preventing a children’s name change, or requesting to take the children on holiday abroad, you can request that here.

Going to Court

This screen gives you time to pause and consider if applying to court and going through contested hearings is really what you want to do, and that if an Order is made in respect of the children, that you must agree to follow it, even if you disagree with the final outcome. Most parents, by the time they reach this stage have already tried everything they can to agree with the other parent – or are unable to discuss with them due to safety concerns; or that the issue is urgent and there isn’t time to look at other alternatives.

If you are at all unsure about whether to continue with the application when you get to this stage, save your progress, and sleep on it. If you then are still sure that court is the only way to resolve the issues, you can log back in and continue with your application. You can save your progress for up to 28 days, so if you want to try mediation again, or another type of resolution, you can come back to your application within that timeframe if you need to.

Leaflet – Going to Court.

You’ll be known as a ‘litigant in person’ if you represent yourself. You have the right to speak for yourself in court without a solicitor or other legal professional. You may choose to do this because you think it’s better to talk directly to the judge or magistrates yourself you cannot afford to pay legal fees. There is lots of support and information for litigants in person on the Wikivorce website.

Link to videos

Link to children guide

Click here to find out if you can claim Legal Aid.

Alternative ways to reach an agreement

Details about the children in this application

We now arrive at the section of the form that asks for details about your children. You can add more than one child. Provide all the requested information the best you can.

Select the options below which apply to your application:

Tick the relevant response to these next questions:

If you tick YES to the question below, you will be asked for more details about this on the next screen.

Applicant's details

These next questions ask for details about the applicant. As you are completing the form, you are the applicant and you need to enter your own information here.

Enter your full legal name,including any middle names.

Provide the requested information.

State your relationship to the child or children you are making an application about.

Put in your post code here. If you live outside of the UK, click the wording in blue “I live outside the UK”

Your postcode will be shown here. If it is incorrect, click "change postcode" and input the correct one. Select your address from the drop-down list by clicking on the addresses found box, then clicking on your address from the list.

Your address should appear here- check to make sure it is correct and change anything that is incorrect or missing.

It is very helpful if you can provide both an email address and a contact phone number. If necessary, set up a dedicated email account for this purpose. Put these details in the relevant boxes, then confirm if the Court can leave you a voicemail or not. We recommend that you tick YES unless your phone and voicemails are monitored by your abuser, or you suspect they are.

If you tick YES, you will be asked for your solicitor’s details on the next screen. If you are not represented by a solicitor, select NO. If you need help and advice during your proceedings, you are welcome to post on our forum or call the Wikivorce helpline on 01202 805020.

Respondent's Details

The other parent will be the respondent. Provide their details as fully as you can.

State the relationship between your child and the respondent.

Put the respondent’s postcode into the box. If you don’t know their postcode, or they live outside the UK, click the blue wording “I don’t know their postcode, or they live outside the UK” and complete the screen that is then displayed.

Select the respondent’s postcode from the dropdown list, as you did for your own address.

The respondent’s address should be automatically filled in here, but check to make sure it is correct, and change anything that is wrong or missing.

It is very helpful if you can provide an email address and/or a contact phone number for the respondent. If you can’t don’t worry, just progress to the next screen.

Is there anyone else who should know about your application?