Order was no order

Re S [2010] EWCA Civ 447, [2010] All ER (D) 121 (May); NLJ 201 p 801

A order for contact in respect of two children aged 12 and 13 provided: ‘It is a condition of … contact that the children have to decide for each contact whether to take it up or not.’ Although the case was ‘at the extreme end of difficulty in the difficult field of intractable contact disputes’ the order was in effect no order at all. The condition was a notion of the judge which did not have the imprimatur of either of the two experts in the case or the support of either parent. As to one of the children who was particularly opposed to contact, its wishes and feelings were governed by welfare, and children of this age had to have their lives regulated by adult judgment. The condition was set aside and the case remitted.