Any married couple who have a child automatically share equal parental responsibility, but the situation can be rather different for a couple who are not.

The practical effect of parental responsibility is that where two parents have parental responsibility, one parent cannot make important decisions about the child without the other parent agreeing to it. If it is not possible for the parents to reach agreement, then either parent (although it is usually the parent who feels his or her wishes are being ignored) must apply to the court for the issue to be decided. The types of issue that are covered by parental responsibility are important (as opposed to day-to-day) issues regarding a child, such as education, religious instruction and medical care.

As an unmarried couple, if your child was born before 1 December 2003, only the mother has automatic parental responsibility. The natural father of that child can only gain parental responsibility by either:
• entering into a parental responsibility agreement;
• obtaining a court order giving him parental responsibility; or
• marrying the mother.
If the mother with parental responsibility dies, the unmarried surviving father still does not gain automatic parental responsibility unless he has a court order, a parental responsibility agreement in his favour, or he was registered as the father of the child born after 1 December 2003.

While an unmarried father of a child born before 1 December 2003 has no automatic parental responsibility for that child under the law, when it comes to providing financial support for the child the law makes no distinction between him and a father with parental responsibility. The Child Support Agency, for instance, will assess fathers without parental responsibility for child support in the same way it does for all other fathers and the court will allow an application to be made on behalf of a child for a lump sum to be paid by the father who does not have parental responsibility.

Parents, whether or not they are married, share parental responsibility for a child born after 1 December 2003, providing that the father is registered on the birth certificate. This does not currently apply in Scotland where registration of the father on the birth certificate doesn't give him legal parental responsibility. However, the Family Law (Scotland) Bill, which was passed in December 2005 and will shortly become law, confers parental responsibility and parental rights on unmarried fathers where the father is registered as the child's father. However, it only applies to unmarried fathers who are registered as the father after this new legislation has come into force.

Step parents and natural parents can now apply for parental responsibility for the child of their partner by entering into a parental responsibility agreement with all others who have parental responsibility for the child or by order of the court.
See 'Tips before you move in together' for information on where to obtain a parental responsibility agreement and other necessary documents.

Law stated as at 1 February, 2006