When the forms are completed, signed and dated, you submit them and pay any fee that might be required to the Family Court nearest to where the child lives.
Forms should be submitted as paper copies to the court office by post or in person.
You should confirm with the court office how many copies of the forms you need to provide.
Links to forms related to applications for an Order in the Family Proceedings Court are given below and are available at Department of Justice's page for forms for Magistrates' Courts (Children (NI) Order 1995) Documents.
If you need to contact the court, use email in the first instance. Bear in mind that court staff are not legally trained and cannot give legal advice. They will try and help you with queries but can only give you basic information about the court processes.
For contact details of the different court offices – see NICTS contact details or Court office emails.
See below for Family Proceedings Court forms
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Application for an Order
Form C1 – Initial Application form to the Family Proceedings Court (Magistrates’ Court)
To make a first application to the Family Proceedings Court for a court Order, you will need to complete Form C1 and a C1A.
Form C1 (FPC) should be submitted as paper copies to the court office by post or in person. You should confirm with the court office how many copies of the forms you need to provide.
Form C1A - Summons to respondent on an application under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, Family Proceedings Court
Form C1A (FPC) should be submitted to the court at the same time as you submit Form C1. This form is a Summons which the court staff will complete and serve on the respondent party.
Form C1AA – Additional Information about welfare of the child
Form C1AA (FPC) should be completed if you are applying for an Article 8 Order and believe the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering harm through domestic violence, violence within the household, other conduct or behaviour or ill treatment of another person by a person caring, living or having contact with them.
Form C1AA Guidance Notes (FPC) Guidance Notes on completing Form C1AA may help you in completing this form.
Form C5 – Confidential address (Keeping your contact details confidential)
Form C5 (FPC) can be completed if you want to keep your contact details confidential from the other party and send it to the court with your application.
Hearing request or approval form
You may be required to complete a form in collaboration with the other party if there is going to be hearing. Contact the court to check.
When the case is listed for hearing, the parties may be required to complete a form about who will attend the hearing and the issues to be discussed.
The court office may send you the form one week prior to the hearing date. The parties may need to collaborate to complete the form before returning it to the court office.
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Fee exemption
Form ER1 - Fee exemption
If you have a low income or are in receipt of state benefits or you are in financial hardship then you may be entitled to help with court fees. To apply for an exemption or to claim back court fees, use Form ER1
You may need to complete more than one form as you must submit a separate form for each individual fee for which you would like help with.
Court fee refund form should be completed if you have already paid a fee and now realise you could have applied for help, you may be able to claim a refund.
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Responding to an application
Form C1A - The summons
Form C1A (FPC) is the form you will receive from the court if you are named as a respondent in an application. This form is known as a ‘summons’. This will command you to attend court on the date stated on the form. This form is completed by the court and sent to the respondent.
Form C4 - Acknowledgement
Form C4 (FPC) should be completed if you are named as a respondent in an application. The court will send you Form C4. You are required to fill it in and return it to the court to show that you acknowledge the receipt of the application.
Form C1AA – Additional Information about welfare of the child
Form C1AA (FPC) should be completed if you are responding to an Article 8 Order and believe the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering harm through domestic violence, violence within the household, other conduct or behaviour or ill treatment of another person by a person caring, living or having contact with them.
Form C1AA Guidance Notes (FPC) Guidance Notes on completing Form C1AA may help you in completing this form.
Form C3 - Notice to Parties of Proceedings
Form C3 (FPC, FCC & HC) will be sent by the court to inform you of an upcoming hearing. After the case has started the court will send you Form C3, known as the Notice to Parties of Proceedings. This notice will tell you when and where to appear for your hearing(s).
Form C5 – Confidential address (Keeping contact details confidential)
Form C5 (FPC) should be completed if you want to keep your contact details confidential from the other party and send it to the court with Form C4.
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Application for permission to apply
Form C2
Form C2 (FPC) should be completed when you require permission of the court to apply for a court Order.
It is advisable to also attach the application Form C1 for the Order you are seeking permission to apply for to your Form C2 application. Contact the court office by email to ask whether you need to re-submit the completed Form C1 if permission to apply is given.
Hearing request or approval form
You may be required to complete a form in collaboration with the other party if there is going to be hearing. Contact the court to check.
When the case is listed for hearing, the parties may be required to complete a form about who will attend the hearing and the issues to be discussed.
The court office may send you the form one week prior to the hearing date. The parties may need to collaborate to complete the form before returning it to the court office.
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Application for an additional Order or directions in existing proceedings
Form C2
Form C2 (FPC) can be completed during on-going proceedings if either party wish to apply for an Order, alongside or in addition to the Order applied for in the original application. For example, if a parent is applying for a Contact Order and then wants to prevent the other parent from moving the child to a new school, they can apply for a Prohibited Steps Order during the on-going contact proceedings using Form C2.
Hearing request or approval form
You may be required to complete a form in collaboration with the other party if there is going to be hearing. Contact the court to check.
When the case is listed for hearing, the parties may be required to complete a form about who will attend the hearing and the issues to be discussed.
The court office may send you the form one week prior to the hearing date. The parties may need to collaborate to complete the form before returning it to the court office.
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Application to be joined as a party to existing proceedings
Form C2
Form C2 (FPC) can be completed and submitted to the court if you wish to be joined to existing proceedings.
A judge can give an Order for a person to be included in proceedings which they are not automatically involved in.
For example, a step-parent who the child has been living with for at least 3 years during the last 5 years, including during the last 3 months.
Hearing request or approval form
You may be required to complete a form in collaboration with the other party if there is going to be hearing. Contact the court to check.
When the case is listed for hearing, the parties may be required to complete a form about who will attend the hearing and the issues to be discussed.
The court office may send you the form one week prior to the hearing date. The parties may need to collaborate to complete the form before returning it to the court office.
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Application to stop being a party in existing proceedings
Form C2
Form C2 (FPC) should be completed if a party wants to apply for a judge to give an Order to no longer be party to the on-going proceeding
Hearing request or approval form
You may be required to complete a form in collaboration with the other party if there is going to be hearing. Contact the court to check.
When the case is listed for hearing, the parties may be required to complete a form about who will attend the hearing and the issues to be discussed.
The court office may send you the form one week prior to the hearing date. The parties may need to collaborate to complete the form before returning it to the court office.
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Establishing parental responsibility
Parental responsibility of a father who is not named on his child’s birth certificate can be established in several ways – see Parental responsibility.
Form GRO13 - Declaration of Paternity
Form GRO13 can be completed if the father cannot be present to sign the birth register with the mother. He can complete a form called a Declaration of Paternity (GRO13) in front of someone with the authority to witness an oath, like a lawyer. The mother can then take the signed form to register the birth.
Parental Responsibility Agreement Form
A Parental Responsibility Agreement is another way is for the mother and father to make a parental responsibility agreement together.
A Parental Responsibility Agreement form has to be witnessed at the court. Read the Guidance Notes carefully - Guidance note about a Parental Responsibility Agreement
Form GRO12 - Application to re-register the birth
If it is not possible for the parents to reach a parental responsibility agreement, the father can apply to the court for a Parental Responsibility Order.
Form C1 (FPC) should be used to apply.
Email the court office to check whether it is necessary to obtain permission to apply before making an application for a Parental Responsibility Order.
Form GRO12 can be used if the judge gives the father the Parental Responsibility Order. The father can apply to re-register the child’s birth using the form Application to re-register a birth (where parents are not married to/or in a civil partnership with each other), also known as Form GRO12.
Form GRO15 – Application for re-registration of the birth of a person born before their parents’ marriage/civil partnership
Form GRO15 can be used to establish parental responsibility if the parents marry or establish a civil partnership. They can apply to re-register the birth using the form Application for Re-registration of the Birth of a Person born in Northern Ireland before their Parents’ Marriage/Civil Partnership, also known as Form GRO15.