Parental Responsibility Advice

Below, we have answered some regularly asked questions concerning parental responsibility.

• What is parental responsibility?

  Mothers and the majority of fathers have legal rights and responsibilities as a parent which is referred to as ‘parental responsibility’.

  For those who have parental responsibility, their most significant roles are to provide a home for the child to live in and to protect and look after the child. Further important roles include:

  • Disciplining the child
  • Selecting and supporting the child with their education
  • Consenting to decisions concerning the child’s medical treatment
  • Naming the child (if required, agreeing to any change of their name)
  • Maintaining and looking after the property in which the child resides

• Who has parental responsibility?

  Mothers automatically have parental responsibility. A father of a child born after 1st December 2003 (who is named on the birth certificate and was present when the birth was being registered) shares parental responsibility with the mother. Otherwise, a father does not acquire it, unless:

  • The parents of the child are married;
  • The parents enter a parental responsibility agreement;
  • A Court makes a parental responsibility order; or
  • There is a step-parent parental responsibility agreement.

  Parental responsibility is retained even if the parents separate and regardless of who the child lives with.

  Any other person who is granted a residence order by a Court will also be granted parental responsibility for as long as the order is in force.

• My partner and I are separating, do I have parental responsibility?

  A mother will have automatic parental responsibility for her child. However, parental responsibility is only granted to the father if:

  • He is married to the child’s mother
  • His name is on the birth certificate when the child’s birth was registered
  • There is a parental responsibility agreement with the mother
  • There is a parental reasonability order from the Court
  • He becomes the child’s guardian

• Can parental responsibility be removed from a parent?

  In the event of an adoption (other than a step-parent adoption) both parents will lose parental responsibility.

  An unmarried father can have parental responsibility removed from him upon an application to the Court, although these types of applications are rare.

  A Court will not remove a father’s parental responsibility for any of the following reasons:

  • He doesn’t want contact with his child
  • His child doesn’t want contact with him
  • He won’t pay child maintenance
  • He isn’t involved in his child’s life

  Where a Court believes a father is having a negative impact on his child, for example, they can restrict the father’s involvement by issuing either a child arrangements order to protect the child or limit the role the father has in their life.

• Do the parental responsibility rules differ for adopted children?

  Adopted children would be treated the same way as biological children. However, foster children are not legally classed as ‘your’ children. Different rules would then apply here, for example, a child who has been placed in your care will be removed if you were going through separation or divorce. However, this matter would be for local authorities who placed the child within your care as opposed to the Courts.

Our fixed fee parental responsibility agreement service includes:

• Drafting the agreement.
• Arranging for the agreement to be signed.
• Lodging the agreement at the Family Division of the Court.
• Sending you a sealed and registered copy of the agreement.

Entering into negotiations with the other parent is not included in this cost, however.