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HAVE YOUR SAY Katie Holmes &Tom Cruise
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ccording to recent me- dia coverage Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have
resolved their differences. Tabloids have missed out on months of headlines, which would inevitably result from a long drawn out argu- ment over who should have cus- tody of their daughter, Suri. Head- lines made more interesting by the no doubt detailed analysis of the Scientology religion that would have accompanied the debate. The agreement reached appar-
keeping it out o A
entology religion as she gets older. Had Suri been in England then
ently gives sole custody to Katie. Unlike in the UK, the legal concept of custody still exists in New York. It gives responsibility for the care, control and maintenance of the child to one or both of a child’s parents or to another party. The reason Katie applied for sole cus- tody was apparently to ensure that she could make decisions about Suri’s future upbringing, including religion. Tom will still have “visita- tion rights” and according to some media reports, is able to provide Suri with information about the Sci-
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Tom and Katie would both retain Parental Responsibility defined as “all the rights, obligations, powers, duties and responsibilities which in law a parent has in relation to a child”. Since the Children Act 1989 came into force, the courts have no longer granted custody to one parent and there is a “no or- der” presumption. This means the court does not make an order un- less either of the parents make an application. Even then, although a court may
make Residence and Contact Or- ders these do not remove Parental Responsibility. If the parents have an issue as to how to exercise Pa- rental Responsibility then the court can make a Specific Issues Order, for example, which school they attend, or a Prohibited Steps Order so that, for example, in Suri’s case a court could have prevented Tom from introducing her to aspects of the Scientology religion. The case itself raises interesting
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