Parental Responsibility is defined under the Children Act 1989 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”. 

In practice, this allows someone with parental responsibility to make both important decisions in the child’s life (education, medical care, religion etc) and also day-to-day decisions too (nutrition, outings, recreation etc).

If the parties are married then both parents have joint parental responsibility. However, if the parties are unmarried, only the mother has automatic parental responsibility. 

The father can obtain parental responsibility by:

• Being named on the birth certificate of the child;

• Entering into a ‘parental responsibility agreement’ with the mother;

• Applying to the court for a parental responsibility order or a child arrangements order;

• By being appointed the child’s guardian; or

• By marrying the mother of the child. 

Contact us

For further information, please contact a Family Law Solicitor based in our Wolverhampton Office on 01902 328 355.

George Green have offices based in Wolverhampton and Cradley Heath and serve clients across the West Midlands and Black Country including Stourbridge, Wolverhampton, Halesowen, Birmingham and beyond. If you complete our online enquiry form, a member of our team will contact you for an initial discussion.