Parental Responsibility: Who Has It and How to Get It
Parental responsibility is the authority to make major decisions for a child. Mothers always have it; fathers and second parents usually get it by marriage, civil partnership or the birth certificate, or else by agreement or court order.
Key points
- Parental responsibility is defined in section 3 of the Children Act 1989 as all the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities a parent has for a child.
- Mothers have it automatically; so do fathers married to or in a civil partnership with the mother, and unmarried fathers named on a birth certificate registered since 1 December 2003.
- An unmarried father not on the certificate can re-register the birth, sign a parental responsibility agreement with the mother, or apply to court for an order (fee £270).
- Step-parents never have it automatically; they can get it by agreement with everyone who holds it, by court order or through a lives-with child arrangements order.
- It ends when the child turns 18 or is adopted. It does not give a right to contact, and child maintenance is owed whether or not you have it.
- Taking a child abroad or changing their surname needs the consent of everyone with parental responsibility or a court order; a lives-with order allows trips of up to 28 days.
Parental responsibility is the legal authority to make the important decisions in a child's life: where they go to school, what medical treatment they have, what they are called, whether they get a passport and whether they live abroad. Section 3(1) of the Children Act 1989 defines it as all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority a parent has in relation to a child and the child's property. A birth mother always has it. A father or second female parent usually has it through marriage or civil partnership with the mother or by being named on the birth certificate, and can otherwise obtain it by agreement or court order. Step-parents, guardians, special guardians, adopters and, under a care order, local authorities can hold it too. This guide explains who has parental responsibility in England and Wales, how to get it, when it ends, what it does and does not entitle you to, and how disputes between people who share it are resolved.
What parental responsibility means in practice
Holding parental responsibility makes you one of the people entitled to decide, and to be consulted about, the major questions in a child's upbringing. Schools and doctors should treat you as a parent: you can ask for school reports, consent to medical treatment, and be involved in decisions about where the child lives, which school they attend and whether they travel or move abroad. You can apply for a passport for the child and object to one being issued, and you must be told about and involved in care proceedings if a local authority becomes concerned.
Where more than one person has parental responsibility, each can normally act alone on everyday matters, and the parent the child is with decides routine questions. The courts expect holders to consult one another on anything important, and a few decisions need everyone's written agreement or a court order: changing the child's surname, taking them out of the United Kingdom and moving them abroad permanently. Where holders cannot agree, either can ask the court to decide.
Parental responsibility is not a right to see the child: contact is settled by agreement or by a child arrangements order. It is not the trigger for maintenance: a parent must support their child financially whether or not they hold it, as the guide to child maintenance explains. And it gives no holder a veto over another's everyday parenting.
Who has it automatically
The birth mother has parental responsibility from birth and cannot lose it except through adoption or a parental order after surrogacy. A father who was married to, or in a civil partnership with, the mother when the child was born has it automatically, as does a father who marries or forms a civil partnership with the mother afterwards.
An unmarried father has parental responsibility if he is named as the father on the birth certificate at a joint registration, provided the birth was registered on or after 1 December 2003, when the Adoption and Children Act 2002 brought the rule into force in England and Wales. A father named on a certificate registered before that date did not acquire it and needs one of the routes below. Scotland adopted the same rule for births registered from 4 May 2006 and Northern Ireland from 15 April 2002.
A second female parent is treated like a father under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008: she has parental responsibility automatically if she was married to or in a civil partnership with the mother at the time of licensed fertility treatment and agreed to it, and otherwise acquires it by being registered as the child's parent on the birth certificate, by agreement or by court order. A parental order after surrogacy, and an adoption order, each give the new parents parental responsibility and remove it from the birth parents.
How an unmarried father gets it
There are three routes.
- Re-register the birth. If the father was left off the certificate, the parents can apply to the register office to re-register the birth with his details, either attending together or with a statutory declaration from the parent who cannot attend. Re-registration is free; new certificates cost £12.50 each. It gives him parental responsibility in the same way as an original joint registration.
- A parental responsibility agreement. Where the mother agrees, both parents complete form C(PRA1) and take it, unsigned, to a family court. A justice of the peace, a justices' clerk or an authorised court officer witnesses the signatures (a solicitor cannot); the mother must bring the child's full birth certificate and both parents need photographic identification. Copies are then sent with the original to the Central Family Court at First Avenue House in London, and the agreement takes effect once it is recorded there. GOV.UK gives no fee for this route, in contrast to the £270 for a court order, and the agreement can only be ended by the court or by the child turning 18.
- A parental responsibility order. Where the mother will not agree, the father applies on form C1 for an order under section 4 of the Act. The fee is £270 from 13 July 2026, with Help with Fees for people on low incomes. The court looks at the father's commitment to the child, the attachment between them and his reasons for applying, and refuses only where there is a real welfare reason, such as a risk that he would use the status to harass the mother or disrupt the child's care. If the court makes a child arrangements order under which the child lives with the father, it must give him parental responsibility at the same time; if the order only provides for the child to spend time with him, it must consider whether to do so.
Step-parents, guardians, special guardians and adopters
A step-parent never has parental responsibility automatically. A step-parent married to, or in a civil partnership with, one of the child's parents can acquire it under section 4A of the Act by an agreement on form C(PRA2) signed by every person who already holds parental responsibility, witnessed and recorded in the same way as a parents' agreement, or by applying to court on form C1 for £270. An unmarried partner of a parent cannot use section 4A but holds parental responsibility, for as long as the order lasts, if a child arrangements order names them as a person the child lives with.
A guardian appointed under section 5 of the Act, usually in a parent's will, takes on parental responsibility when the appointing parent dies, although if another parent with parental responsibility survives the appointment only takes effect where the deceased parent had a lives-with order. Appointing a guardian is one of the main reasons parents of young children make a will, as the guide to wills, trusts and probate explains. A special guardianship order, often used where grandparents or foster carers raise a child long term, gives the special guardian parental responsibility that they can exercise to the exclusion of the parents, who keep theirs in name but lose most of its substance. Adoption transfers parental responsibility to the adopters permanently, and a care order gives the local authority shared parental responsibility and the power to limit how the parents exercise theirs while it lasts.
When it ends and how it can be removed
Parental responsibility ends when the child reaches 18, or earlier if the child is adopted or made the subject of a parental order. A mother's parental responsibility, and that of a father who has it through marriage or civil partnership, cannot otherwise be removed by a court. Parental responsibility acquired by birth registration, agreement or order can be ended by the court on the application of someone else who holds it, or of the child with the court's permission, but such orders are rare and reserved for serious cases such as a father convicted of violence towards the mother or child. Parental responsibility held through a child arrangements order ends with that order, and a special guardianship order can be discharged.
Taking a child abroad, moving and changing a name
Taking a child out of the United Kingdom needs the consent of everyone with parental responsibility or the permission of the court. For a holiday, a signed letter from the other parent with their contact details and the dates of the trip is usually enough, and border officials may ask for it alongside the child's birth certificate. If a child arrangements order says the child lives with you, you can take them abroad for up to 28 days without asking, unless another order prohibits it. Taking a child abroad without the required consent is child abduction, an offence under the Child Abduction Act 1984, and the other parent can ask the court for an urgent order requiring the child's return.
A permanent move abroad, or a move within the UK that would disrupt the other parent's time with the child, needs agreement or a specific issue order; the court applies the welfare checklist, weighing the moving parent's reasons and plans against the effect on the child's relationship with the parent left behind. Changing a child's surname follows the same pattern: it needs the written consent of everyone with parental responsibility or a court order, and where a child arrangements order is in force section 13 of the Act says so expressly.
Resolving disagreements
When holders of parental responsibility cannot agree, either can apply for a specific issue order, which decides the question, or a prohibited steps order, which stops something happening. Both are applied for on form C100 with a fee of £270, and in most cases you must attend a mediation information and assessment meeting first unless an exemption such as urgency or domestic abuse applies. The court decides on the child's welfare and can make an interim order within days where a child is about to be moved or a passport is about to be used.
Each side normally pays its own legal costs in children cases. A solicitor will usually prepare a parental responsibility agreement or an unopposed C1 application for a fixed fee and quote an estimate for a contested specific issue application; legal aid is available only where there is evidence of domestic abuse or child abuse and you pass the means test. Many parents handle an agreement or an unopposed application themselves, but a contested relocation or a dispute about serious medical treatment is worth specialist advice from a family law solicitor. For unmarried parents, the guide to cohabiting couples' rights explains why parental responsibility, unlike marriage, brings no financial claims of your own.
What to do next
Check the birth certificate: if the father is named and the birth was registered on or after 1 December 2003, he already has parental responsibility. If he is not named, or a step-parent wants a formal role, start with an agreement, and move to a C1 application only if agreement is refused. For wider context read the introduction to family law, and to find advice compare family law solicitors in Birmingham, the solicitors in Bristol listings or the directory of solicitors near you.
Frequently asked questions
Can a mother stop the father getting parental responsibility?
She can decline to sign an agreement or to re-register the birth, but she cannot prevent him applying to court. Judges grant parental responsibility orders to most fathers who show commitment and a genuine attachment to the child, because the order recognises his status rather than deciding where the child lives or how much time they spend together. Refusals are reserved for cases where the father would misuse the status, for example to harass the mother or interfere with the child's care.
Does having parental responsibility give me the right to see my child?
No. Parental responsibility gives you a say in major decisions and a right to information from schools and doctors, but the time a child spends with each parent is settled by agreement, mediation or a child arrangements order. Equally, a parent without parental responsibility can still apply for a child arrangements order, and a father who is granted one under which the child lives with him is given parental responsibility by the same order.
How many people can have parental responsibility for one child?
There is no upper limit. Both parents, a step-parent, a special guardian and a local authority under a care order can all hold it at the same time, and each can act alone on most matters. The exceptions are decisions the law reserves for everyone's consent, such as a change of surname or removal from the UK, and situations where a special guardianship or care order allows one holder to override the others.
Can I apply for parental responsibility if the mother and I never lived together?
Yes. Living together is not a condition. An unmarried father can be added to the birth certificate by re-registration, sign a parental responsibility agreement with the mother or apply to the court for an order, whatever the history of the relationship. The court looks at your commitment to the child, your attachment and your motives, not at whether you and the mother were ever a couple. Second female parents under the 2008 Act have the same routes.
What happens to parental responsibility when a parent dies?
The surviving parent with parental responsibility continues to hold it alone. A guardian named in the deceased parent's will only takes over if there is no surviving parent with parental responsibility, or if the deceased parent had a child arrangements order saying the child lived with them. Where nobody is left with parental responsibility, a relative or carer can ask the court to appoint them as guardian or to make a child arrangements or special guardianship order.
Do I need a solicitor to get parental responsibility?
Usually not for an agreement or an unopposed application: the forms are short, the court officer who witnesses an agreement checks the documents, and the process is designed for parents to complete themselves. A solicitor is worth the cost where the other parent objects, where there are allegations about your conduct, or where the application is bound up with a dispute about contact, relocation or a change of name. Ask about fixed fees for the application and the first hearing.
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This guide describes the law in England and Wales as at 30 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation; the law and the figures it quotes change, so check the position with a solicitor before acting. LawFirms.co.uk is a directory and does not provide legal services.