lovingboth: (Default)
Ian ([personal profile] lovingboth) wrote2003-12-11 11:48 am

Hello dear lawyers (again)

Just checking - section 111 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 finally came into force on the 1st December.

It gives unmarried fathers 'parental responsibility' iff they're named on the birth certificate (until now, you've needed a specific agreement with the mother or order made by a court).

But it only applies to (re-)registrations made on or after that date, doesn't it?

[identity profile] drdoug.livejournal.com 2003-12-11 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
The father has to sign to agree too! If he doesn't, he doesn't get parental responsibility (PR).

It's actually a pretty sensible system. The mother doesn't lose anything if she doesn't want to put someone's name on the birth certificate. Unless of course she wants the father to have PR but not be named on the birth certificate - which is a bit of a daft thing to want, but I'd guess they could still make a PR agreement and get it registered.

The CSA don't care much about PR or not - a father who wants nothing to do with the child is still liable for maintenance.