rights of fathers whos name is on the birth certificate

[dumanddummer]

can anyone please help me. my son is not married to the mother of his son, is name is on the birth certificate what rights does he have

[mattie]

Unmarried father's have very few rights, for example, they are legally not classed as next of kin, meaning that they could not give permission for surgery.

I know of someone who put the name of someone else as the father on her son's birth certificate.

This is one of the reasons (not the only one) that I got married to my daughter's mother, as I had no rights to speak of.

The other option is a Parental Rights Agreement, however, this has to applied for through the courts, and both parties have to agree to it

[Ethel]

It depends how old the child is. Now, unmarried father's with their names on the birth certificates automatically have shared parental responsibility, with many rights.
This applies to births registered after 1st December 2003

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/ParentsRig hts/DG_4002954

[Ethel]

So you can see, if the child is under 5, he has many rights - as many as if he were married to the mother.

If the child was born before the 1st December 2003, parental responsibility can still be acquired.

[DottyH]

that answer about someone having put someone else as the father on the birth certificate confused me, that someone else would have had to have been either her husband (not common law) or that persopn would have had to attend the register office at the time the child was registered, not many unmarried blokes would do that for another man's child.

[mattie]

I sit corrected, my daughter was born in 2000, so I didn't have many rights.

[enjoyingit]

Hello..Just read all the replies and as i have just done this topic in my degree..the answer is if the child was born in or after the Children Act 2004 then the Father has every parental right as the Mother. Unfortunately before this time the Father has to apply to court to have parental responsibilty. Hope this helps... if you need more info you can always google search the children act '89 and '04.

[lorraine29]

Can I further this question slightly, my son became a father 5 months ago but he was only 15, since his son was born he has really grown up and supported the mother. His name is on the birth certificate but does he have parental responsibility or does that only come into force once he turns 18? (he's 16 now)

[Ethel]

lorraine, that is an excellent question, and quite frankly I don't know.

I did find this, however, which is somewhat startling:

A minor cannot consent to treatment for another minor, that is a mother who is under the age of 18 years cannot consent to her child's treatment/surgery. In this event, the person with parental responsibility for the mother would have to consent; this should be documented in the notes. If this was not possible, in an emergency, then in the child's best interests the hospital barrister should be contacted, as to how to proceed.

http://tinyurl.com/3njgc7

This would indicate that a 16 year old mother does not have full parental responsibility, and the same would apply re your son.

The question now arises - in the hospital scenario would you, as having parental responsibility for your son, have the same rights to consent to treatment as the maternal grandmother?

Thank you for the question, and sorry I can't answer.