PR and holiday consent - advice please.

[jojo38]

Hi ladies.

I was wondering if there is anyone out there who can answer a few legal ish questions for my mate.

She is a lone mum and has been on her own with them for the past 8 yrs with no contact from the sperm donor. She wants to be able to take her children to Mexico next yr. Apparently she has to have parental consent from the father. She contacted him and he basically told him to F off with his wife's voice in the background telling her to get a life you btch* - bear in mind she has never met this person and not spoken to her ex for the past 8 yrs. She tried her best.

She spoke to her solicitor last week who told her that she would take it to court etc.. to get the signature, then she told her that she has no right to claim legal aid coz she has a car! and that could be sold to pay costs. BTW the costs are estimated at £500!!!

Can anyone tell me if this solicitor is correct in telling my mate that she has no claim for LA because of her car! Surely this is her livlihood to get her to work and back???

Poor girl doesn't know what to do.. I told her to get a second opinion and that I would ask around.

Any help would be appreciated... and thanks.

[tammybear]

Well I have a car but still get legal aid from my solicitor. You say she works, so it depends on how much she earns. If its not a great deal, then she can get LA, if she does earn over a certain amount then she wont. I cant remember how much it is though, someone did say somewhere on here i remember seeing. My mum is trying to find a solicitor at the moment, and works, so she's going to ask if she can get legal aid, so if she does, i will let you know what they say. Hope she can work something out. xxx

[mummyloves]

Hi JOJo38,

I'm not an expert although I have spent a great deal of time and effort trying to get legal aid. As far as I am concerned, and this is straight from the Legal Aid Board, they look at your take home pay, take off rent or mortgage, childcare costs, and I think, although I can't exactly remember, travel costs to and from work and as long as you have less than about £800 to spend on everything else, including council tax, insurance, gas , electric, water etc etc.... you qualify for at least some LA. As far as your car is concerned it doesn't come into it as far as I know. I know there are cases where people get LA and think the sevice is free, such as in a divorce etc, but then when the party sells up their house, they find they have to pay back the LA. I think that your friend is getting false information and should speak direct to the LA Board. My Exp is on LA and he has his own business, a posh clinic, and a fairly new Rover and he still qualifies. he pays no rent and no mortgage cos he lives with his parents. Does the "sperm donor" actually have PR and is she intending to take the child out of the country for more than one calendar month?

Hope this is of some use.
xx

[jojo38]

Hi ladies... thanks everso for a quick reply.
My friend works as a hair dresser. She hasn't had contact with ex for the whole 8 yrs so I don't know if he has PR or not? They were married.
She is going to Mexico but for 2wks. Mexico is one of the countries on the new law list that requires the other parent's consent to take kids to.. If that makes sense.

I see what you mean about the LA now. But for her solicitor to tell her that she doesn't qualify, does that mean that an assessment has already been made for her?

Thanks again for your advice. Is there a website about LA?

[mummyloves]

Ok, Jojo,

I've just looked it up for you on the Legal services Commision website. A car does not get taken into account when they assess eligibility and I am 100% certain that she shouldn't even be bothering going to see a solicitor if she's only going on holiday for two weeks. Sperm donor does appear to have Pr by virtue of marriage, BUT, she does not have to have his permission totake the child out of the country if it for a period of less than one calendar month. She's wasting her time with a solicitor if you ask me. And whatever solicitor she has, she should change them!

[mummyloves]

Ah, didn't see your other thread from yesterday where you say Mexico is a country that gets funny about all of this as it's a place women go to hide with their children. Can't say it's high up on my list of preferred places, but then maybe your friend should speak directly with the Embassy and get concrete evidence from them. That would be the price of a phonecall, and she wouldn't have to go through a solicitor if she could get a letter signed directly from exDP. As others have said, who's to say he'd sign a form drawn up by a solicitor?

[jojo38]

Mummylove, you are an angel... thank you. Where did you get this info from?

Thanks again! Will do what you suggest. {{{{Hugs}}}

Ps, not my choice either but nvr mind.

Off to bed now, will catch up later... thanks!

[mummyloves]

Agh.... just found it on www.mexperience.com/guide/essentials/entry_ req.htm If you can't find it there I just typed in "mexico entry requirements" and it was the first on the list. Go into it and click on the special note for lone parents. It says that if she has legal guardianship through the courts, ie, anything post sperm donor going, from the courts saying she has residency, custody etc etc, then if she takes this, this is sufficient. If he just left and that was the end of that, the she DOES need a letter signed by him and they have the form on the website. She DOESN'T need a solicitor. She can print this off and he can sign it. End of. Oh the joys of the Internet!. How she gets him to sign it is another matter. Does she really have to go to Mexico? Still definitely wouldn't bother with a solicitor.

[mummyloves]

Oh, and just type in Legal Services Commission on the search engine and it will come up. They actually have a calculator thing to see whether you qualify.