There are an increasing number of step-parents following separation who have difficulties in relation to contact with their step-children and their partner\u2019s former spouse. The legal side of this issue can be quite complex, many parents are not aware of their legal position or what they can or cannot authorise when it comes to their step-children. <\/p>\n
By way of example, a step-parent\u2019s spouse is away for the weekend with one of the children and the other child is with the step-parent that weekend and needs urgent medical treatment. In that scenario, what that step-parent is allowed to consent to\/authorise is dependent on whether or not they have Parental Responsibility. <\/p>\n
Parental Responsibility <\/strong><\/p>\n Parental Responsibility is the term used to describe the legal rights and responsibilities a parent has for a child and includes responsibilities such as:<\/p>\n –\tDisciplining the child A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth. A father usually has parental responsibility if he\u2019s either married to the child\u2019s mother at the time of the birth or named on the birth certificate. <\/p>\n A step-parent even if married to a parent of a child does not acquire Parental Responsibility for that child automatically in the eyes of the law. They must have the consent of both legal parents before they are entitled to make decisions for the child such as in the case of an emergency or in need of medical attention. <\/p>\n Step-parents can acquire Parental Responsibility through a formal agreement or Court Order. Other orders which result in Parental Responsibility to a step-parent or other individual (e.g. grand-parent) are a Residence Order which regulates where a child will live and gives the individual with the Residence Order Parental Responsibility until the child is 16. A Parental Responsibility Order endures until the child is 18. For a formal agreement each person with Parental Responsibility has to sign the agreement. This will often be the natural parents and any other individuals who have acquired Parental Responsibility since the birth of the child. However as there can sometimes be animosity between the birth parents, a Court application to acquire Parental Responsibility in favour of a step-parent is often necessary.<\/p>\n This is a highly emotional area of family law as it can take some time to build relationships following separation. A step-parent wanting to acquire parental responsibility can often be seen as a threat to another parent who may fear being \u2018excluded\u2019 from their child\u2019s life. It is important that advice is sought before making any decision about who is involved in a child\u2019s future. Consulting our specialist lawyers in our Altrincham or Manchester offices is a great first step. We can talk you through your options and help you to decide what is the best way to proceed. Please contact us on 0161 927 3118 today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are an increasing number of step-parents following separation who have difficulties in relation to contact with their step-children and their partner\u2019s former spouse. The legal side of this issue can be quite complex, many parents are not aware of their legal position or what they can or cannot authorise when it comes to their… Read More »Do step-parents have any rights for contact?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,175,74,39],"tags":[169,42,11,9,19,90,111],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-law","category-lund-bennett","category-marriage","category-parenting","tag-family-law","tag-family-law-lawyers-altrincham","tag-family-solicitor","tag-lund-bennett","tag-lund-bennett-law","tag-parenting","tag-step-parents"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":497,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions\/497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n–\tChoosing and providing for the child\u2019s education
\n–\tAgreeing to the child\u2019s medical treatment
\n–\tNaming the child and agreeing to any change of name
\n–\tLooking after the child\u2019s property <\/p>\n