# County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981, Rule 2: Commencement of proceedings

Extent: N.I.

(1) An application for a parental order shall be commenced by petition in Form 389.
(2) The petitioners shall be the [ the persons who may apply for a parental order pursuant to section 54 of the 2008 Act] and the respondents shall be the birth parents (except where the petitioners seek to dispense with their consent) and any other persons or body in whom the parental rights and duties relating to the child are vested at the time of the application.
(3) The court may at any time direct that any other person or body be made a respondent to the application.
(4) On filing the petition the petitioners shall pay the appropriate fee and supply three copies of the petition together with any other documents required to be supplied under this Order.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1981/225/part/50A/rule/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-rules-northern-ireland-1981/part-50A/rule-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.