by Keiron Audain

Created on: September 23, 2009   Last Updated: September 25, 2009

In these contemporary times we live in, whether in the UK or elsewhere in the world, irrespective of race or nationality, the family unit can face an uphill battle to stick together.

When it comes to relationships, the harsh reality is that they can end at any time, regardless of whether or not children are involved. In cases where serious animosity exists between two parents, things can turn quite nasty, and children can get caught right in the middle - sometimes even used as ammunition as parents fight against each other. This is usually where the courts step in.

A custody battle usually entails a decision made by a magistrate or family panel, regarding which parent the child or children should live with, and also the visiting rights of the other parent denied custody. As anyone would imagine, a custody battle is far from a walk in the park, and provided the children are old enough to walk, they will eventually become well aware of what's going on.

Custody battles between a divorced couple can be challenging enough, but things are further complicated when the parents are unmarried. In the UK, 1 in 4 children are born to an unmarried couple.

In unmarried couples, parental responsibility (the legal right to have a say in the way the child is brought up) automatically goes to the mother. It was only since December 2003 that unmarried fathers gained such rights, provided they are registered on the child's birth certificate. They only other way such a privilege could be awarded to fathers is if they marries the child's mother and make a parental responsibility agreement with her that needs to be registered at the Principal Registry and witnessed by a court official. If for some reason their loving wife refuses to make such an agreement, fathers can always go directly to the courts themselves.

For an unmarried father, even one whose name is on the child's birth certificate, and even with a positive paternity test, custody rights are still not guaranteed. Custody laws in the UK with regards to fathers have come under heavy criticism over the years, most famously by the semi-radical "Fathers 4 Justice", the group that made headline news with their many costume stunts, all in the aim to highlight their message that fathers get an unfair deal when it comes to their right of access to their children.

Yet this isn't to say that unmarried mothers don't have their fair share of concerns. By law, an unmarried mother is not entitled to financial support from her child's

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