Enforcing a child arrangements order — Form C79, penalties and proof
She keeps breaking the contact order? The court's enforcement machinery exists for exactly this — but it runs on evidence, and it has trapdoors. This is the mechanics.
Before C79: build the breach file
- Log every breach Date, time, what was ordered, what happened, message evidence. Chronology discipline. One missed Saturday is an incident; five logged Saturdays is a pattern the court must address.
- Check what your order actually says "Reasonable contact" orders are hard to enforce (nothing fixed to breach). "Contact every other weekend from Friday 6pm" is enforceable. If your order is vague, the first application may need to be for a defined order.
- Write before applying A short, dated letter: "The order of [date] provides X. On [dates] it was not honoured (C7–C12). I ask for confirmed arrangements." The refusal reply — or silence — completes the file.
The C79 application
- Form + fee Form C79 asks the court to enforce. Fee: £270 (EX50); remission may apply (help with fees).
- The court's duty On an enforcement application the court must consider enforcement (unpaid work, compensation for financial loss, costs) unless satisfied the applicant had reasonable excuse or it would be wrong. Knowing this — calmly — changes the tone of your case.
- The hearing Evidence-led. Your log and exhibits do the work. Her "reasonable excuse" (child ill, genuine safety) is examined; invented excuses tested by cross-examination unravel across a pattern of dates.
Enforcement's real power is often upstream: a parent facing a proper breach file frequently starts complying — or accepts a defined order with penalties attached. And courts increasingly use Family Assistance Orders, monitoring and contact activities (a "contact activity direction") to fix root causes before punishment.
The three trapdoors
- Enforcing while breaching — if your own compliance record is spotty, fix that first; nothing kills a C79 like a mirror.
- Weaponised enforcement — applications filed within hours of minor hiccups read as war, and judges say so. Pattern, not pettiness.
- Ignoring the child's own reluctance — if an older child resists, the court's question becomes welfare, not breach. That's a different case: s.7 territory.
Before your hearing
Turning scattered messages, notes and dates into evidence takes structure. apply this guide to your own documents — EvidenceCanvas is a guided toolkit that helps you draft a child-focused witness statement, answer a Scott Schedule point by point, and assemble a paginated court bundle. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.