JERSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Lauren Glynn, Victoria Cure and Tara Lee, Carey Olsen
Carey Olsen 47 Esplanade
St Helier JE1 0BD Jersey Tel: +44 1534 888900 Email: jerseyco@careyolsen.com Web: www.careyolsen.com
1. The Care Provider’s Ability to Take Decisions About the Child 1.1 Parental Responsibility In Jersey, a parent’s decision-making power is known as parental responsibility. Parental responsibility is a concept introduced by Article 3 of the Children (Jer - sey) Law 2002 (CLJ). It is defined in Article 1 (1) as being “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which the father of a legitimate child had in relation to the child and his property”. Parental responsibility encompasses the right to make important decisions about a child, including, but not limited to, their education, religion, healthcare, name and where they should live. 1.2 Requirements for Birth Mothers A child’s birth mother automatically acquires parental responsibility in Jersey. 1.3 Requirements for Fathers A father’s parental responsibility is dependent on his relationship to the child’s mother at the time of a child’s birth. A father will only automatically have parental responsi - bility if the mother and father were married at the time of the child’s birth or the child was born in Jersey after 2 December 2016 and the father’s name is registered on the child’s birth certificate. For children born in Jersey before 2 December 2016, an unmarried father will not automatically have paren -
tal responsibility for his child(ren). In order to acquire parental responsibility, an unmarried father must enter into a parental responsibility agreement with the child’s mother or apply to the court for a parental responsibil - ity order. A parental responsibility agreement must be made in the form set out in the Schedule to the Chil - dren (Parental Responsibility Agreement) Rules 2005 and must be filed with the Family Division of the Royal Court of Jersey. Jersey is not currently party to the Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Rec - ognition, Enforcement and Co-Operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measure for the Pro - tection of Children. This means that, even if a parent had parental responsibility for a child in the country in which they previously lived and/or in which the child was born, that position may not be recognised in Jer - sey. The factors to be considered in determining whether to grant parental responsibility to an unmarried father pursuant to Article 5 of the CJL 2002 were confirmed by the Royal Court in G v K 2005 JLR N [39], as follows: • the commitment of the father to the child; • the attachment between the father and child; and • the father’s motivation for the application. In LS v NS 2007 JLR N [37], the Royal Court confirmed the test above and noted that the welfare of the child was paramount. It was further noted that parental responsibility confers an important status on fathers
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