What is a Parental Responsibility Agreement?

Parental responsibility is a legal concept that consists of the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority that most parents have in respect of their children. It includes the right to give consent to medical treatment. Normally, the consent of all those with parental responsibility is needed before a child’s name can be changed or they are taken out of the country.

A parental responsibility agreement gives those rights. An unmarried father often does not have such rights

A parental responsibility agreement is particularly useful:

• for unmarried fathers where the child was born before 1 December 2003
• in cases where an unmarried father of a child born after 1 December 2003 is not on the birth certificate for some reason
• where a couple marry and the other party already has a child in all Civil Partnerships where either party already has a child, or gives birth after the couple become civil partners

What is included in the Fixed Fee?

You will be allocated a solicitor to handle your case.

You will be provided with email and direct dial contact number for your solicitor.

Your solicitor will:

• Draw up the agreement
• Explain how the document is signed and witnessed
• Send the agreement off to the Family Division of the High Court to be registered
• Send sealed copies to you when we get them
• Offer you advice for up to 30 minutes on the issues that can arise such as those below.

Additional Costs

Provided the case is straight-forward and all parties are in agreement there should be no additional costs. However, you should be aware that sometimes issues do arise in relation to decisions that can be taken independently by one parent without any consultation or notification to the other parent:

• How the children are to spend their time during contact;
• Personal care for the children;
• Activities undertaken;
• Religious and spiritual pursuits;
• Continuation of medicine prescribed by GP.
• Decisions where one parent would always need to inform the other parent of the decision, but did not need to consult or take the other parent’s views into account:
• Medical treatment in an emergency;
• Booking holidays or to take the children abroad in contact time;
• Planned visits to the GP and the reasons for this.
• Decisions when it is necessary both to inform and to consult the other parent prior to making the decision:
• Schools where the children are to attend, including admissions applications. With reference to which senior school a child should attend, this is to be decided taking into account the child’s own views and in consultation and with advice from existing teachers;
• Contact rotas in school holidays;
• Planned medical and dental treatment;
• Stopping medication prescribed for the children;
• Attendance at school functions so they can be planned to avoid meetings between the parents wherever possible;
• Age that children should be able to watch films/videos, ie films/videos recommended for children over 12 and 18.

These issues may require additional, and sometimes detailed and complex negotiation. If your solicitor is involved they will advise you in advance of any additional charge for this work.

Why pay a Fixed Fee?

By paying a fixed fee at the start of your case you have certainty about the costs involved. The alternative is to pay an hourly rate (£220 plus VAT) for the time your solicitor spends on your case.