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Are all fathers got full parental rights? if not who does. my daughter was born in 1998 and was not married to her mum so dont think i have full parental rights if i dont does the mother have to still let me have a say on our daughter. im not a risk to my daughter but my ex always thinks i don't have a say on things that concern our daughter so i want to know where i stand on this so when i go to mediation or if it goes to court and can actually stand up for myself and ask for what i shud be entitled to. thanks
I'm pretty sure you don't, though you can apply for it. I'll ask CCLC to pop on and give an opinion.
Dear Daz,
Thank you for your enquiry.
If you were married with the mother of your child you would have obtained parental responsibility (PR), however there are other ways for unmarried fathers to obtain PR.
An unmarried father would obtain PR if the child’s birth was registered after December 2003, or he entered into a parental responsibility agreement with the mother, or he obtained a court order such as a parental responsibility order/ residence order.
If this does not apply to yourself, then you do not have parental responsibility.
To obtain PR you could negotiate with the mother and together complete a parental responsibility agreement. The court will want to see that you have attempted to negotiate with the mother to some extent and mediation often provides a successful avenue.
You can contact national family mediation on 0300 4000 636 for further information.
If the child’s mother refuses to negotiate then you could apply for a parental responsibility order. This can be done with the assistance of a solicitor, or by representing yourself in court.
To represent yourself you could visit the HMCS website to download the C1 application form. Additionally you can download guidance notes called CB1 and CB3. There is a fee approximately around £200 - £300 for making the application which covers the proceedings.
If you have any further questions please contact us via our webchat facility. The link to our webchat is http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/index.php?page=web_chat.
Yours sincerely,
Coram Children’s Legal Centre
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