Residence Order
A Residence Order is the new term for a 'custody' order. It decides where and with whom a child should live. It is only necessary for a court to decide this if the parents cannot agree but sometimes an order is needed to give some other adult parental responsibility, such as a relative who is actually caring for a child, or a step-parent who wishes to share in the responsibility for a child.
For some years the general view has been that a child should have one base, so to speak and there are many who hold to the view that imposing an 'equal time with each parent' routine may be fair to the parents but unfair to the child. Courts have, however, been reluctant to impose this view on parents who have made a decision for 'shared care' and where it actually works. There is a growing view among judges that such an arrangement could work even where parents clearly hate each other and also when they live in two different countries.
Parliament has left this issue to judges and the Court of Appeal has shown considerable intelligence in insisting that both parents have important roles to play in their children's upbringing. It is not one-sided but for the children's sake, parents need to come up with something that will work for the children, not the parents. It does not mean that 'shared care' means 'equal care.'
There is no rule in law, by the way, to say that children should normally live with their mother rather than their father, although statistically of course that's more common. There is a tendency however for Courts to be slow to change an arrangement already made and working; and Courts are always reluctant to split children up if at all possible.