A Residence Order is made by the court when parents are unable to reach an agreement over which parent a child should live with full time. A Shared Residence Order is also a possibility where it is deemed in the child’s best interests, and will set out that the child will live with one or both parents on a shared arrangement. A Shared Residence Order does not always mean that the child’s time is divided equally between the two parents; its purpose is to show that the child has a need to spend a significant period of time with both parents and that their home is with both of them.