PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AGREEMENTS
The core objective of children and the law is to promote and ensure the best interest of children. While sometimes it is inevitable that disputes involving children will end up in court, it is never in the best interest of children for parents to have a protracted court battle. This is because court battles are always selfish in nature.
In my family law practice, I have seen men and women alike, use children as pawns to settle scores. For example, a man, who would otherwise not have any interest in bringing up a child, would fight for custody of the child, just to spite the mother. I have seen men attempt to take away suckling children from their mothers just to hit back at the women. I have equally seen women who decline to allow fathers of their children, access to them as a means of “punishing” the man. In all these examples, it’s the children who get hurt at the end of the day.
The Children’s Act in Section 26 provides a means by which parents, who no longer reside together, can have an amicable agreement that allows them to both participate in the raising of the children. This agreement is called a parental responsibility agreement. While the law does not define what a parental responsibility agreement is, by practice and context we understand that it is an agreement by which parents to a child, define the limits, extents and nature of their co-parenting arrangement.
Sections of a Parental Responsibility Agreement.
A properly drafted parental responsibility agreement will have three main sections as follows:
(I) Description Section
In this section, the document identifies the parents to the child. The names of the parents will be written down as well as their Identity/Passport Numbers and their contact addresses. This section shall also identify the name of the child and the child’s date of birth.
(II) Custody Section.
This section gets into detail with regard to any custody arrangements of the child. We have two types of custody:
(a) Legal custody– This entails rights and duties that parents have over a child.
(b) Actual custody- This entails the actual physical possession of the child.
Normally, by virtue of Article 53 of the Constitution of Kenya, all parents have joint legal custody of the child. This means they are both liable equally to provide for the child.
The custody section will get into the detail of who will have the physical possession of the child as well as visitation arrangements for either parent both during school time as well as during the holidays.
(III) Child Support/Maintenance Section
This section will go into detail of the extent to which both parents shall contribute to the maintenance expenses of the child. The Constitution provides that both parents have an equal duty to maintain the child. In considering the expenses, drafters of Parental Responsibility Agreements are guided by Section 23 of the Children’s Act which lists expenses as food, shelter, clothing, education, and medical needs. Drafters of the agreement will need to ensure that the expenses are shared equally.
Registration of Parental Responsibility Agreements
We do advice that once an agreement has been entered, parents make an effort to have it registered and adopted in court as an order of the court. This has the benefit of hastening the process should either party decide to violate the agreement. An application is made to the Children’s Court seeking the adoption of the agreement as an order of the court. Once the court adopts the agreement as its order, then should a parent violate the order, the parent becomes liable for contempt proceedings.
Some parents however opt to simply sign agreements and not register them in court. The downside to this is that in the case of disobedience or violation of the agreement, the affected parent will have to start proceedings at the court from beginning, which can be a rather frustrating venture.
CONCLUSION
In the best interest of children, we advice parents to avoid costly and lengthy litigation at the Children’s Court, and simply make an attempt at registration of a parental responsibility agreement. This saves time, saves money, and ultimately, saves the child.
Like!! Great article post.Really thank you! Really Cool.
Please reach out to me via email, concerning a deadbeat dad who dares no child support.
Kindly help, I cant share my story but I really need your support.
Good morning Susan,
We are sorry for the matter at hand.
Please attach your phone number so that our front office can give you a call in the course of the day to book you for an appointment with one of our lawyers.
We look forward to touching your life.
I am charity
Hello Charity, Thank You for reaching out to us,
Let us know how we can be of assistance, You can also reach us via our phone number 07 95 797 897/ 07 43 235 923.
We look forward to being of service to you.
Hallo……where can a person of low income go to get a dead beat father to help the child……..what happens if a deadbeat dad comes just from nowhere when the child is big eg a teenager and wants Access and right to the kid…..can an irresponsible absentee father be forced to swear an affidavit absconding himself from the child and deny any right in future….. kindly help….I have an absentee dad who is giving mixed reactions and I wish I just knew his stand
Hi
Am a new mum and i had to go through the entire pregnancy (high risk) as it was on my own because the father was constantly giving excuses finally he came clean and told me he had met someone else and that they were serious.
I spent lots to maintain the pregnancy and i delivered a healthy baby. He then tells me if i want him to support us i should put him down in my baby’s birth certificate as the father.
We are now at the baby’s 6th month of life and he doesn’t even want to know the name let alone see the child but each time i ask him to sign away parental rights he starts saying he plans on sending me money for upkeep.
I just want to move forward baggage and deadbeat baby daddy drama free and i dont want my baby burdened by the guy later in life. Please help me
Hi Jules, you really have gone through quite a lot. I will send you an email and we can speak more on this.
I need help..my dead beat left me paying a huge loan and having full responsibility of the Child How do I get help? L
Hello, I’m currently in this cold relationship but I want to go separate ways soon. Because currently my husband does not provide anything for the two babies we have.. not even paying school fees for the kindergarten child. Unfortunately I’m jobless now but he is working in an NGO and attracting a huge salary at the end of the month. In short how can I make this man be responsible for the kids. He brags that if I go to court he will delay the case and the fact that he is not a civil servant tracking him will not be easy. Help please
Hello Marya
Sorry to hear about what you are going through. It must be really tough. Our advice is that you consider filing for child support in court. It is untrue that he will delay the case. He does not have such kind of power. Kindly share your contact details and we will give you a call to discuss further.
Kind regards
My childs father even after signing a P.G .A has not been providing for the child for almost 1 year now. Now he is back wants access. Saying that the reason why he doesn’t provide is because he does not know where the child lives. My place . I was not comfortable in letting him know where i moved out to because he is very outrageous and abusive. He says he must know where i live so he can visit the child. I have no problem him accessing the kid just not in or near my house. He says he will file for custody. However the fact that i do not have a constant income and its very low worries me. Can the court grant him custody based on our incomes?
Hello Ann
Income alone is not a reason for the court to grant him custody. The court considers many factors but the overall factor is the best interest of the child. It is possible for him to access the child at a neutral place that is not your house/home. My advice is that you should not worry about losing your child because of a lack of constant income. For as long as you are able to cater to the basic necessities of the child, you will be okay.
Hello Marya
Please share your phone number and we will call you and help you out. We have dealt with cases where people have said the way they will drag cases. Those are mere threats. Nowadays the court system is very efficient and you can get child support.
Kind regards.
Hi. My son’s mother took him away but I reported her to children’s services through which we formulated an agreement. She’s however been using excuses like her job to limit the amount of time I have access to the child. At times I get scars on the child, rashes from his milk allergy, nail polish applied on him etc. I’ve tried talking to her but we can’t reason it out and I end up losing my mind from the contempt she shows. I’m on the verge of giving up because it’s consuming me more than I want anything. Is there anything I can do?
Hello Vincent,
Please do not give up. We can help you get access to your child. How old is the child?
Kind regards
Hello Elvis,
He’s 2.
Hello
I’m in a situation where I have fathered a child outside my marriage. My wife knows and I have agreed to provide maintenance for the child once he is born. The lady however is now constantly seeking money for her own upkeep hair, car, salon. How can I strictly support the child’s interest through a signed agreement?
Hi.My daughter is 16 months still breastfeeding and we have been having issues with the dad that i want to move out….Can i keep the custody of her…Please advice on what to do
Good morning Maureen,
We are sorry for the matter at hand.
Please attach your phone number so that our front office can give you a call in the course of the day to book you for an appointment with one of our lawyers.
We look forward to touching your life.
Hi i separated with my son’s mother and had gone to child support office to agree on how to support the child but she have been denying me the right to see my son saying because i have another woman, don’t i have rights to my son if i have a wife? Kindly i need your help
Dear Peter,
You have the right to see your child. That is a right that nobody can take away from you. My advice is that you sue at the Children’s court to have on a minimum, child access rights.
Kindly share your number so that we may give you a call.
Kind regards.
Its terrible to hear what people are going through and broken relationships. I hope we can get answers hear and not just we will call you shar your number. Some cases are straightforward and simple you can answer the questions onspot. Only suggestion. Its good platform.
Dear Jose,
Indeed, we try our best to answer each question.
Kind regards.
Hi,my wife abducted and disappeared with my two kids after months of disagreements with me.That was on Dec 2019 up to this moment I have never seen or heard from my kids she blocked me and all avenues of communication,changed her line and when reached by officers she gives false whereabouts and location of the kids.she has ignored two written summons,ignored calls and appeals from children officers and state officers..am worried about my kids safety..Their is one with a past case of abuse at their hands .kindly help a brother here..I just want to be the responsible father I have always been to my girl and boy..
Hello Sam, I trust you’re well and sorry on what you are going through.
To locate your kids and ex wife you will have to involved the CID’s then later we help you file a matter in children’s court for Child access, Maintenance and child custody.
For more assistance, Kindly reach us on 07 43 235 923 or 07 23 313 833.
Looking forward to being of service to you.
Please contact me
Thanks
Hello Hannah, Thank You for reaching out to us,
Kindly assist us with your phone number to be able to contact you, You can also reach us via our phone number; 07 95 797 897/ 07 43 235 923.
We Look forward to being of service to you.
Hello,is daycare part of the parental responsibility agreement?
What happens when one parents start demanding what is not in the parental responsibility agreement?
Eg.I fathered a child and we had ofcourse issue with the mother.She moved to children office and I was summoned.We signed an agreement that I,the father will take of education anf 50% food while the mother takes care of shelter clothing and 50% food.
We agreed to enrol or children on our medical schemes.
She is now demanding that I pay for daycare yet it wasnt one of the thing on the agreement and she threating to go to court.
What should I do in this case?
Hello Micheal , sorry to hear about the demands.It might be difficult to access the situation with the brief statements you have given, a consultation with one of our lawyers might be the best way forward to discuss how we can help address the matter.Kindly assist us with your phone number to be able to contact you, You can also reach us via our phone number 07 43 235 923 or email us info@begislaw.com.
We Look forward to being able to touch your life.