Parental Responsibility
Parental Responsibility outlines who is responsible for a child. If you’re going through divorce or separation, knowing who has parental responsibility or how to gain it could be important for not just your future, but also the child’s.
Youngs Law have a team of experience lawyers who are here to help support you. We can offer you legal advice about who currently holds parental responsibility or how you can go about gaining it, should you not already have it.
Feel free to write to us if you have a question about your matter. We are more than happy to answer your queries and assist you with your matter should you choose to instruct us.
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What is parental responsibility?
Parental responsibility outlines the legal rights and responsibilities that a parent has in respect of a child.
For example, this could be something as simple as having the right to be involved in the decision making regarding the child.
Who has parental responsibility?
If you’re the mother of a child, you automatically have parental responsibility of a child. A farther will only have parental responsibility if he was married to the mother of the child when they were born.
If you’re unmarried, fathers will have parental responsibility in respect of the child if their name is on the child’s birth certificate after 1 December 2003.
If you’re the farther and you do not fall into either of these categories, you can acquire parental responsibility by entering into a parental responsibility agreement with the mother and filing this with the court, or he can apply to the court for a parental responsibility order.
If you’re a step parents, you can obtain parental responsibility if you are married to the mother or you are a civil partner of a parent who holds parental responsibility in respect of the child and they either:
- Enter into a parental responsibility agreement with the parents who hold parental responsibility in respect of the child and file the agreement with the court; or
- Apply to the court for a parental responsibility order.
You can also acquire parental responsibility if you’re not a parent of the child. This is done by obtaining a “lives with order” from the court in respect of the child, adopting the child or becoming the child’s legal guardian.
If you have any questions about parental responsibility, what it is and who has it, you can contact Youngs Law for expert advice.
Contact us and speak to an experienced member of our Family Law team on 033 33 582 588.
For information about Legal Aid services, visit our Legal Aid page.
