Who possesses parental responsibility?
In relation to children born before 1 December 2003 in England and Wales, 15 April 2002 in Northern Ireland, and 4 May 2006 in Scotland, both of a child’s biological parents will only automatically acquire parental responsibility if they were married at the time of the child’s conception or at some time thereafter. If the parents have never been married only the mother automatically has parental responsibility. The father may also had acquired it in various ways, including by entering into a parental responsibility agreement with the mother, or through a parental responsibility order made by a court.
