Parental responsibility includes all rights and powers a parent of a child has in relation to the child. An individual with parental responsibility can make all important decisions in the child’s life until they reach the age of 18. These important decisions include providing a home for the child, or deciding where they stay, where they may go to school, dealing with their medical treatments and even have responsibility over consenting to their child travelling abroad for holidays.
If you share parental responsibility with another, consent must be gained before making decisions, such as taking the child out of the country. In the UK it is a criminal offence to take a child out of the country without the consent of those with parental responsibility.
Parental responsibility can belong to more than one person. It is standard for married parents to have joint responsibility. However, in instances where the parents are not married the following occurs:
For mothers, parental responsibility is immediate once the child is born.
For fathers, if they are not married to the mother of the child then they may only have parental responsibility if they are listed on the birth certificate. If not, the father does not have parental responsibility.
This does not mean that the father cannot obtain parental responsibility. In order to do this, he can agree to a parental responsibility agreement with the mother which shows her consent to the father having responsibility - this then becomes official once filed with the court.
At Dylan Nair Solicitors we understand the importance of family. If you need advice regarding parental responsibility, get in touch with our specialist team today.