Children question:

My ex-partner and I have two children and we are arguing on fundamental aspects of our children’s upbringing. A friend suggested I could apply to the court for a parental responsibility order. What is this?

posted in Children | 1 response

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Good Lawyer Guide's response

There isn’t a legal definition of ‘parental responsibility’ but it relates to the duties, obligations and rights in relation to children. Your ex-partner automatically has parental responsibility as the birth mother but a father only has automatic parental responsibility if married to the mother. It is worth thinking back to when your children’s births were registered because you will already have legal parental responsibility if you jointly registered their births with their mother (but note this only applies after 15 April 2002).

Otherwise, to obtain parental responsibility you will have to apply to the court or sign a parental responsibility agreement with your ex-partner. It sounds like she would probably refuse to consider this anyway, so your only alternative would be to apply to the court. In that case, if the court is satisfied as to your reasons, it will give you parental responsibility jointly with your ex-partner. This will effectively give you the same rights as her in relation to your children’s upbringing.