Parental Responsibility Agreement checklist

Read the Parental Responsibility Agreement to make sure it meets your needs. Make sure that all names and addresses in the Agreement are right and spelt correctly.

By signing the Parental Responsibility Agreement, you will both be altering your legal position in relation to your child so be very sure that you fully understand the Agreement and are happy to complete it.

For more information, read Parental responsibility.

Remember that if you have any questions you can easily Ask a lawyer.

1. Print out the Parental Responsibility Agreement because you cannot sign it online. Do not sign or date it yet.

2. The next step is to make sure that you have all the identity evidence that you need. These are:

   1. the child's birth certificate

   2. the mother's proof of identity showing a photo and signature (eg photo driving licence or passport) so that she can properly identify herself as the mother of the child, and

   3. the father's proof of identity showing a photo and signature (eg photo driving licence or passport).

3. Take the unsigned Parental Responsibility Agreement together with your documents to your nearest family court or the Central Family Court.

4. An officer of the court (eg a justice of the peace, a justice’s clerk or someone else who is authorised by a judge to administer oaths) will arrange to witness your signatures. They will make sure that the Parental Responsibility Agreement is signed and witnessed properly. Note that you cannot get this Parental Responsibility Agreement witnessed by a solicitor - it has to be a properly authorised court official.

5. Both the mother and the father need to date and sign the Agreement in the presence of the officer of the court.

6. The officer of the court will then witness your signatures and sign the Parental Responsibility Agreement.

Once the Parental Responsibility Agreement has been correctly signed and witnessed, make a copy of the Agreement. Send this copy, together with the signed original Parental Responsibility Agreement, and a copy of the child’s birth certificate to the Central Family Court at the below address: 

Central Family Court

First Avenue House

42-49 High Holborn

London

WC1V 6NP

Explain in your accompanying letter that you are enclosing the original Parental Responsibility Agreement and copy along with a copy of your child’s birth certificate.

The court officials will then register the Parental Responsibility Agreement, stamp both copies and return a copy to each parent.

The Agreement will only be valid once you have received your stamped copy from the Central Family Court.

Each party should keep their original signed copy of the Parental Responsibility Agreement in a safe place.

It is a good idea to have certified copies of the Parental Responsibility Agreement made. Certified copies are copies that are confirmed as true copies of an original document by a qualified person (eg a solicitor). While Rocket Lawyer does not provide certification services, they can be provided by most solicitors for a fee.

An unsigned copy of your Parental Responsibility Agreement will also be stored automatically in your Rocket Lawyer account ‘Dashboard’.

Bear in mind that you may need to inform certain authorities about the Parental Responsibility Agreement, such as your child’s school and doctor. It’s best to send certified copies of the Parental Responsibility Agreement. However, you should check whether an original is required before sending the Parental Responsibility Agreement.

Note that this Agreement will last until your child becomes 18 years old or the court orders it to be ended.