Parental Responsibility Agreements and orders

Effectively, parental responsibility provides the holder the right to be involved in the day to day management of the child's life. Practically, the holders of parental responsibility are entitled to be given information regarding children’s education and any medical matters relating to the child.

Each parent can generally exercise their parental responsibility independently of the other and there is normally no onus on the parents to consult with the other prior to exercising their parental responsibility.

The position for unmarried parents is different. Unmarried mothers have parental responsibility for their child. An unmarried father can acquire parental responsibility by either entering into a parental responsibility agreement with the mother or by an order of the court or if the unmarried father marries the mother of his child. Additionally, since 1 December 2003, he can acquire parental responsibility through the original registration as the child’s father or by re-registration of the child’s birth to include the father’s name on the child’s birth certificate.

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