C100 Form UK — How to Apply for a Child Arrangements Order

Mediation didn't work, or it was never appropriate for your situation. Now you're facing the C100 form — the gateway application for a Child Arrangements Order in the family courts of England and Wales. It's the form you file when you need the court to decide where your child lives and who they spend time with.

The process isn't as complicated as it looks, but it's unforgiving of mistakes. Court statistics show that roughly 40% of DIY applications contain errors that cause delays. Here's what you actually need to know.

What the C100 Application Covers

The C100 is used to apply for several types of orders under the Children Act 1989:

• A "lives with" order — specifying which parent the child primarily lives with
• A "spends time with" order — setting out the contact schedule for the other parent
• A Specific Issue Order — resolving a single disputed decision (school choice, medical treatment, travel abroad)
• A Prohibited Steps Order — preventing one parent from taking a specific action (relocating with the child, changing their surname)

You can apply for more than one type of order on a single C100 form. Most parents apply for a lives with/spends time with order as their primary request.

The Court Fee

The C100 application carries a court fee of £270. This covers the application itself — there's no separate fee for the first hearing.

If you're on a low income, you may qualify for a full or partial fee waiver through Form EX160 (Help with Fees). You'll get an automatic full waiver if you receive Universal Credit with annual earnings under £6,000, Income Support, Income-related ESA, Income-based JSA, or Pension Credit Guarantee Credit — provided your total savings are below £4,250. If you're not on a qualifying benefit, a full waiver is still possible with a gross monthly income under £1,420 (single, no children) or £2,130 (couple, no children), with an extra £425 allowance per child aged 13 or under and £710 per child aged 14 or over.

The MIAM Requirement

Before you can file a C100, you almost always need to have attended a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM). This is a mandatory pre-court step — the form includes a section where your mediator confirms you attended, or where you declare an exemption.

Valid MIAM exemptions include:

• Evidence of domestic abuse (police involvement, non-molestation order, refuge referral)
• Child protection concerns involving local authority involvement
• Urgency — where delay would cause a risk of harm to the child
• The other parent is in prison or subject to a restraining order
• A MIAM or other non-court dispute resolution process about the same or a very similar dispute within the last four months

Since the 2024 rule updates, distance-based exemptions have been severely narrowed. The court now assumes online MIAMs are universally available, so claiming there's no local mediator requires evidence that you cannot access an online meeting, contacted at least five authorised mediators within 15 miles, and none could offer an appointment within 15 business days.

How to Fill In the C100

The current C100 is a 51-page, multi-section form. Here are the sections that trip people up:

Section 1 — The children. List every child the application covers, with their full legal name, date of birth, and current living arrangements. If a child has a different surname from you, explain the relationship.

The order you seek. Be specific. "I want the children to live with me" is a starting point, but the court wants to see a proposed schedule. "The children to live with the applicant Monday–Friday and spend alternate weekends (Friday 5pm to Sunday 6pm) with the respondent" gives the judge something concrete to evaluate.

MIAM attendance. Provide your mediator's signed Form FM1, or tick the appropriate exemption box and provide supporting evidence. Missing or incomplete MIAM documentation is one of the most common reasons applications are returned.

Harm and risk. If you're alleging domestic abuse, coercive control, or child safety concerns, you need to also complete and submit Form C1A alongside the C100. Don't understate genuine risks — the C1A triggers specific safeguarding procedures that protect you and the children. But don't overstate either — unsupported allegations damage your credibility with both Cafcass and the judge.

After You File

Once the court accepts your C100, the court's local process begins. In court areas operating under the Child Focused Court Model, this includes:

1. Cafcass receives the referral and begins safeguarding checks — police and local authority database searches, plus phone calls to both parents.
2. A safeguarding report or Child Impact Report is prepared before the first hearing. In a court area operating under the Child Focused Court Model, the Child Impact Report draws on interviews with both parents and (where appropriate) the children; other courts may use the traditional safeguarding letter or report.
3. The First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment (FHDRA) is listed 4–8 weeks after filing. Both parents attend. The judge reviews the Cafcass report and tries to reach an agreement. If both parents agree, the judge can make a consent order on the spot.

If agreement isn't possible, the case moves to further hearings — potentially including a fact-finding hearing if abuse allegations are disputed, and a final hearing where the judge makes binding orders.

Common Filing Mistakes

• Filing without a MIAM certificate when no exemption applies — the application gets bounced back, and you've lost weeks.
• Leaving the proposed order vague — "I want more time with my children" doesn't give the court enough to work with.
• Not filing Form C1A when there are safeguarding concerns — if you mention abuse in the C100 but don't file the C1A, the court has to chase you for it, causing delay.
• Forgetting the fee or fee waiver application — the court won't process an unfunded application.

For a detailed walkthrough of each C100 section, Cafcass preparation checklists, and schedule templates you can attach to your application, the England Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide covers the entire process from pre-filing preparation through to your first hearing.

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