Contact Orders - what does your say

[infinityjay]

Could anyone with a contact order in place let me know what the basic contact is.

[Collaborate]

There isn't such a thing as "basic contact". It's what's best for your family that counts.

[rubin]

There are norms however infinityjay (eg how long were you & your partner living together before splitting up, distance between your homes, age/no of children, etc). Let us know a little bit more about your situation & we can give you examples of what is likely to be enforced.

[ChocHobNob]

A Contact Order will depend on so many different factors, for example;

The age of the child(ren)
The distance between the two parents.
The Non Resident Parent's working hours.
Practicalities of collections/drop offs, ie. from school or from home or a mutual place.
Whether there is supervised or unsupervised access.

Not many contact orders are exactly the same. They can include specific things, such as;

Who does collections/drop offs.
Restrictions on the NRP in their time.
Timings of contact.
What happens when contact is cancelled or needs to be rearranged.
What happens during special occasions, birthdays/Christmas/school holidays.

Like Collaborate said, there isn't "basic contact" really.

[MOSagain]

Agree with Collaborate, no such thing as a basic contact order.

However, if it is any help, I often used to encourage/assist in agreements such as (assuming kids of school age, ie not babies and living assuming they were living with mum) had contact with dad every other weekend, sometimes an evening midweek (if appropriate depending on ages/ distance etc) and contact during school holidays, ie a week or two in the summer or share easter/half terms etc.

With regards to Christmas, a lot tended to try to get into the alternate years pattern so one had kids christmas eve/day and the other new year. If parties got on well and were local, sometimes they'd share christmas day but only if it was 'doable' and not too much of an upheaval for them all.

[struwelpeter]

Think about what is 'doable' for you both given age of DC, childcare/school, your working patterns and NRP's, distance, what would be least disruptive to DC having some time with NRP and you having some time off.
If you are able to come up with suggestions, explain why certain things would be v difficult and put forward alternatives then court will see you as accommodating and willing to negotiate.
Depends how difficult the other side is ... but main thing is what is in DC's best interests at whatever stage of life they are at.