Q&As

A man believed he was the father of a child, and was included on the child's birth certificate (prior to December 2003). The child is now age 18, and the man has discovered via DNA testing that he is not the child’s biological father. Can he be removed from the child's birth certificate without the child's consent? Does he have parental responsibility for the child, bearing in mind that the child is age 18? Will the child be able to make any claims on the man’s estate?

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Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk
Published on: 20 September 2018
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In this Q&A it has been assumed that the parties were not married and there was no order or agreement as to parental responsibility.

The Q&A considers three points:

  1. •

    whether it is possible to change the birth certificate of someone who is over the age of 18 so as to remove the name of someone who was named as the father, but who has discovered he is not the biological father

  2. •

    whether the man incorrectly named as the father (the named man) has parental responsibility for the

Katherine Illsley
Katherine Illsley

4 King’s Bench Walk

Katherine’s family practice covers matrimonial finance, TOLATA, Schedule 1, and private law children proceedings. She has experience acting for local authorities, guardians and parents in public law children cases, including in cases involving allegations of non-accidental injuries.

Katherine also is regularly instructed in housing and property work, and due to the frequent crossover with family law has a particular interest in cases involving trusts.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Parental responsibility definition
What does Parental responsibility mean?

All the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property.

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