Parental Responsibility

What is parental responsibility?

Parental responsibility is defined as “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property”.   Parental responsibility is an important legal status.  Parental responsibility, amongst other things, allows the parent to make various applications to the court in relation to the child, such as a child arrangements order.

All birth mother’s automatically have parental responsibility.  All father’s have parental responsibility if they are named on the child’s birth certificate or are married to the child’s mother.  If an unmarried father is not named on the birth certificate, he can apply to the court to obtain parental responsibility if the mother does not consent to it being granted.

Where a child is born through surrogacy, the birth mother (and their spouse if they are married) will have parental responsibility until such time as an adoption order, or a parental order, is made.  A parental order can only be applied for where one of the intended legal parents is also a biological parent. If neither party is a biological parent then they must apply for an adoption order. An adoption order and a parental order both extinguish the birth mother’s parental responsibility (and that of their spouse if they are married) and grants the intended legal parents parental responsibility.

Can parental responsibility be removed?

Parental responsibility can be removed but the court will only entertain such an application in limited circumstances as it is in effect removing a person’s legal status as a parent.

If you would like to discuss parental responsibility in more detail with our family lawyers in London or if we can assist you with general legal advice, please call us on 020 3405 0060 or send us a message to arrange your free initial consultation.