Bereaved Parents Birth Certificates 2025-02-04

Opened the debate

Twenty-two years ago, I became part of a club that no one wants to join: the young widows club. My husband Nick died of oesophageal cancer, and I was left with an 18-month-old baby and a toddler... For many of those tragically unlucky women, it gets even worse. Every year in the UK, around 200 young bereaved women are drawn into a ridiculous, unnecessary and costly legal battle to have their baby’s father’s name registered on the birth certificate. Incredibly, in 2025, if a woman is pregnant when their partner dies but they are not married, the law says that they cannot automatically name the father on the birth certificate... The women I will talk about are all members of WAY, and I thank them for sharing their stories...

Government Response

Thank you very much indeed to Caroline Voaden for securing this debate today. It is an incredibly important subject that affects many people across the country... The law as it currently stands requires both parents to be present at a birth registration when they are not married or civil partners, and if one parent has died before the child’s birth, the surviving mother must apply to the family court for a declaration of parentage. I understand how traumatic this process can be for bereaved mothers... The Government is committed to reviewing these processes and working with stakeholders such as WAY to ensure that any changes made are practical, fair and effective... I thank the hon. Member for South Devon for raising this issue and sharing her personal story. The Government is committed to ensuring that the justice system better supports children and families, especially mothers who have lost a partner. Under section 55A of the Family Law Act 1986, if a child’s father dies before birth, a court must declare parentage which can be costly but mechanisms exist for fee waivers based on income and savings. The process aims to simplify matters while ensuring confidence in the accuracy of birth certificates. I acknowledge delays in family courts add distress and are working on improving timeliness and reducing caseloads through digital solutions. On cohabitation reform, reflecting societal changes, we plan to strengthen rights and protections for cohabitants who face limited financial safeguards compared to married couples or civil partners. We will set out the next steps soon. I thank Caroline Voaden again and look forward to working with her on better protecting bereaved parents in law.