# Act of Sederunt (Child Care and Maintenance Rules) 1997, Rule 2.49: Protection of identity of petitioners

Extent: S

(1) Where persons who propose to apply for a parental order wish to prevent their identities being disclosed to any person whose agreement to the parental order is required, they may, before presenting the petition, apply by letter to the sheriff clerk for a serial number to be assigned to them for all purposes connected with the petition.
(2) On receipt of an application under paragraph (1), the sheriff clerk must—
(a) assign a serial number to the applicants; and
(b) enter a note of the number opposite the name of the applicants in a register of serial numbers kept by the sheriff clerk.
(3) The contents of the register of serial numbers and the names of the persons to whom each number relates must be treated as confidential by the sheriff clerk and must not be disclosed to any person other than the sheriff.
(4) Where a serial number has been assigned under paragraph (2)(a), any form of agreement to a parental order under section 54(6) or 54A(5) of the 2008 Act—
(a) must refer to the petitioners by means of the serial number assigned to them;
(b) must not contain the names and designation of the petitioners; and
(c) must specify the year in which and the court by which the serial number was assigned.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/291/rule/2.49 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/act-of-sederunt-child-care-and-maintenance-rules-1997/rule-2.49
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.