All mothers and most fathers have legal rights and responsibilities as a parent – known as ‘parental responsibility’. Parental responsibility governs a parents’ relationship with their child, allowing them to make important decisions for their child.
If you have parental responsibility, your most important roles are to:
- provide a home for your child and
- protect and maintain your child
You’re also responsible for:
- disciplining the child
- choosing and providing for the child’s education
- agreeing to the child’s medical treatment
- naming the child and agreeing to any change of name
- looking after the child’s property
Parents must ensure that their child is supported financially, whether they have parental responsibility or not.
If you are separated from your child’s other parent, parental responsibility does not mean you have the “right” to spend time with your child. However, the other parent must include you in any decisions that are made about your child’s life.
Any major decisions that need to be made for your child should be made jointly with the other parent who has parental responsibility for the child.
If you and the other parent cannot agree, for example, on a school for the child, medical treatment, a move out of area, including the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom etc, then you may be advised to resolve the issue with the other parent through the family courts.
It is possible for grandparents and other family members to obtain parental responsibility for a child if a parent is unable to exercise their own parental responsibility and make decisions for that child.
Unmarried parents
An unmarried father has parental responsibility for a child if he is named on the child’s Birth Certificate registered after 31 December 2023 or if he is married to the mother when the child is conceived or marries her after the child’s birth.
How can I get Parental Responsibility for my child?
If the parents of a child are married when the child is born, or if they’ve jointly adopted a child, both have parental responsibility. They both keep parental responsibility if they later divorce.
If you have a child arrangement order in place that says a child lives with you, you will have parental responsibility for that child.
In England an unmarried father can get parental responsibility for his child in 1 of 3 ways:
- jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother (from 1 December 2003)
- getting a parental responsibility agreement with the mother
- getting a parental responsibility order from a court
Civil partners
Same-sex partners will both have parental responsibility if they were civil partners at the time of the treatment, for example, donor insemination or fertility treatment
Non-civil partners
For same-sex partners who are not civil partners, the 2nd parent can get parental responsibility by either:
- applying for parental responsibility if a parental agreement was made
- becoming a civil partner of the other parent and making a parental responsibility agreement or jointly registering the birth
Removing Parental Responsibility from a parent
The only way to remove parental responsibility from one parent is through making an application to the family court. These types of application are only successful in exceptional circumstances. Therefore, if you have concerns about the care or welfare of your child, there are other options available, such as a child arrangement order, a specific issue order or a prohibited steps order you should seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity.
Our specialist family team can provide advice in relation to issues surrounding parental responsibility if parents or persons who have parental responsibility for the child cannot agree. Get in touch with us today for more guidance and advice.
Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and should not be seen as formal legal advice. King Street Solicitors is not responsible for any reliance on the information in this post. We do not take responsibility for the content of any external websites linked in the post. Any link to a third-party website should not be seen as an endorsement by King Street Solicitors.