Children
If you have kids, are thinking about it, or if your partner have children from a previous relationship, it's important to know what your rights and responsibilities are. Knowing where you stand prevents you from wasting valuable time worrying about things you don't need to worry about, and helps you deal with the things that you do need to sort out.
See how much you know about your rights with our quick Children quiz.
If you're splitting up, and finding it difficult to agree where your children should live, or when they'll see whoever they don't live with, you could get some help from a family mediator. Mediators are trained to help couples work out what arrangements they're going to make for their children (and their home and finances) when they separate. They won't make the decisions for you. But they'll help you to work out for yourselves what options you have and decide which will work best for both of you. For more information, or to listen in on a family mediation session with our podcasts, go to our Family Mediation pages.
What about the kids? (180 KB) explains parental responsibility (PR), and what you need to organise now to ensure your children will be looked after and provided for if you were to die. It also explains issues of residence, contact and child support that will be useful if you and your partner ever split up or have already.
Parental Responsibility is the set of legal rights and duties that go with being a parent. Unmarried dads do have it if they are down on the birth certificate as the father and the child's birth was registered after 1st December 2003. Fathers of older children will not have got it automatically, even if they are on the birth certificate. But don't worry, we have guides that show you, step-by-step, how you can get Parental Responsibility if you are the dad (77 KB) or a step parent (104 KB) (this includes same-sex couples). If you're currently pregnant, and are not sure what to do about parental responsibility - we have a guide for you too. See I'm expecting a baby (73 KB).
We've also got a handy guide on How to appoint a guardian (94 KB) for your children. This is very simple to do, and will ensure that, should you die, your children will be looked after by the person you choose. However, you do need to think about providing financially for your child and for the expenses their guardian will incur - you need to make a will. See our wills guide (534 KB) for details of how and why to make a will, and what you need to include in it for the sake of your children.
