Occasionally it is necessary for a court to make a decision as to whether a named person is or is not the parent of another person.
The recent public release of the judgement from the case of John v Jane [2026] EWHC 415 highlights some of the more unusual dilemmas with which the Family Court has to grapple. With this case, the applicant, John, brought an application to locate two children that he believed he had fathered with the respondent, Jane. He had never had contact with the children, however had paid over £30,000 in child maintenance over two years. There were various reasons as to why he believed he was father to the children, including Jane looking visibly pregnant and information he had received such as photographs of the purported children. During the proceedings Jane denied having his children citing that she had made them up in revenge for his behaviour. John sought a declaration of parentage but the court first had to determine whether these children actually existed. In this case the court found that due to the absence of any medical records or independent corroboration of the children’s existence, then this was an elaborate fraud and that there were no children.
A declaration of parentage was not possible for non-existing children, however, where a parent has not been recorded on a birth certificate, the party can seek a declaration of parentage. A parent does not always have to have a biological link to a person to be declared a parent, such as where a child has been conceived through surrogacy or IVF. This was considered in PQ v RS and others (Legal Parenthood: Written consent) [2019] EWFC 65 where a party who was not the biological father of the children was declared to be their parent as he had been married to their mother and had consented to the IVF treatment at the time of their conception.
It may be that a declaration of non-parentage is required where a party is named on a birth certificate but is subsequently seeking to confirm that they are not the person’s parent.
Reasons for the court to determine the issue may be where there is a dispute over paternity, legal responsibility or inheritance claims.
Any issues with parentage are sensitive due to the impact that any declaration either for parentage or non-parentage will have on the person whose parentage is being confirmed or denied. However, there will be times where parentage may be unclear and it is important to clarify the position legally to give certainty.
For more information on family matters or to find out how we can help you, please contact our Family Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.