Parental Responsibility (PR) covers all the legal rights and responsibilities that parents have in respect of their children until the age of 18.
All mothers automatically have PR, whilst for fathers it will depend on whether they were married to the mother at the time the child is born, or named on the birth certificate. Same-sex partners will both have parental responsibility if they were civil partners at the time of the treatment, eg donor insemination or fertility treatment. For unmarried fathers and same-sex partners who are not civil partner, they can acquire PR subsequently by agreement or on an application to the court.
According to the Government website, “if you have PR, your most important roles are to:
• provide a home for the child
• protect and maintain the child
You are also responsible for:
• disciplining the child
• choosing and providing for the child’s education
• agreeing to the child’s medical treatment
• naming the child and agreeing to any change of name
• looking after the child’s property”.
Whilst this list is not exhaustive, it shows that PR doesn’t just cover the big decisions such as schooling and medical treatment, but the many different decisions one makes as a parent. PR is retained after separation/divorce, “with each parent having an equal and independent right and responsibility to be informed and make appropriate decisions about their children” (per Mr Justice Wall in A v A [2004] EWHC 142 (Fam)) but differences in parenting styles often emerge following a family breakdown, making decisions regarding children more difficult to navigate. However, it is important to remember that parental rights exist for the benefit of the child, rather than the parent, so at the heart of all matters concerning a child, the question that should be asked is, what is in that child’s best interests?
If parents cannot agree how to make a decision in respect of a child, a court can be asked to make a specific issue or a prohibited steps order, the former being a positive determination of an issue, and the latter an order preventing one parent from taking certain steps.
It is worth bearing in mind that the Court will not get involved in all decisions concerning children. Autonomy in day to day decision making is expected, and parents “should not be seeking to interfere with one another in matters which are taking place while they do not have of the children” (Mr Justice Wall again). So what sort of decisions might warrant the involvement of a court? In the case of A v A, Mr Justice Wall set out a list of what decisions a parent with PR could make alone, what decisions required the other parent to be informed, and what decisions required the consent of both parents, as follows:
“1 Decisions that could be taken independently and 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
• Continuance of medicine treatment prescribed by GP
2 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
3 Decisions that you would need to both inform and consult the other parent prior to making the decision:
• Schools the children are to attend, including admissions applications.
• 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 wherever possible
• Age that children should be able to watch videos. i.e. videos recommended for children over 12 and 18.
Whilst the list is not exhaustive, and stems from particular issues in the case of A v A, it nonetheless serves as a helpful guide.
Effective co-parenting means being able to work together well not just over the big ticket items, but also over the many day to day small ones which arise. If you don’t have one, consider drawing up a Parenting Plan, which should help to head off difficulties before they arise. Consider too going to mediation in the first instance if you are having trouble reaching agreement as it is an effective way of re-opening channels of communication and therefore facilitating agreement. Ultimately, if all else fails, please contact us for further help and advice.
