Arrangements for children in Scotland

When parents separate in Scotland, you can agree arrangements for your children between yourselves, ideally in a written Parenting Plan, and only go to court if you cannot agree. Official guidance explains your options and the law on contact and residence.

Family mediation can help you reach agreement, and the Scottish Child Law Centre offers free advice on children's law if you need it.

Scotland has its own family law and its own vocabulary. Everything flows from parental responsibilities and rights, the things you must do to look after your child and the choices you may make about their upbringing. If you cannot agree arrangements, the courts can make a contact order or a residence order, but agreement, a parenting plan or mediation usually comes first, and it usually works.

• Parental responsibilities mean the things you must do to look after your child; rights include making choices about how your child is brought up and where your child should live (mygov.scot).
• A father automatically has parental responsibilities and rights if he was married to or in a civil partnership with the mother, or jointly registered the child's birth with the birth mother after 4 May 2006 (mygov.scot).
• The order allowing time with a child is called a contact order, and an order about where a child lives is a residence order; an order generally continues until the child is aged 16 (mygov.scot).
• The court will only make an order if it considers that it is better for the child, and it may take the child's views into account depending on how old or mature they are (mygov.scot).
• A father without parental responsibilities and rights does not always need a court; if the mother agrees, the parents can both sign and register an agreement giving him those responsibilities and rights (mygov.scot).

Checked August 2026 against mygov.scot.

Whatever you decide, the child's welfare comes first. Most families never need a courtroom to agree how things will work.

• You can agree arrangements yourselves in a parenting plan, or with the help of mediation.
• Courts are usually a last resort, and generally support children keeping a relationship with both parents unless there are safety concerns.
• Put what you agree in writing so everyone knows what to expect.
• ParenThing can hold the schedule and track any changes.