“Without their being married, the father would not be allowed to raise the child,...”
Why the heck not? Don’t fathers have rights in England? What if the woman died giving birth? It’s his own child, I don’t see why he wouldn’t have 100% rights to that child.
What am I missing here?
Why the heck not? Don’t fathers have rights in England? What if the woman died giving birth? It’s his own child, I don’t see why he wouldn’t have 100% rights to that child.
What am I missing here?
Whatever you may be missing, it seems that I am in the same boat. I believe that in the matter of divorces, fathers are 'occasionally' given custody of a child, and sometimes a baby, when the woman is shown to be unfit, as well as in the case of the death of a mother as you have said. Since the father has apparently not been shown to be legally unfit due to any other reason than his not being married to the mother, it is all a rather baffling, convoluted matter, and it seems that the Government's greatest wish in this case is to remove the child from the family entirely.
Just astonishing.
If you are not married men have very few rights if the mother dies. On the other hand if they split up he has to provide for the child until the child is of age. Many couples who for whatever reason have decided not to marry but have children go to a solicitor and get a legal document drawn up in the event of one of them dying to allow the other to bring the child/children up.