pr and special gardianship matter please help

[jolo123]

First of all ill cut a long story short , I was in a court battle with my ex who wanted fullcustody on his son and my daughter who is not blood ,But ill give him his due he did raise her since she was 3 months old and she is now 10 .He was granted a resident order for my son who is 8 and also special gardianship for my daughter . im struggling to know my rights as i have pr too and he has change my daughters surname with out my consent and also she no longer wants to live with him aswell as my son . what are my daughters rights ? and also my sons and at wat age ???

[prh47bridge]

He cannot change your daughter's name without your consent unless he has a court order allowing him to make the change.

Your daughter does not have the right to determine where she lives but her views would be taken into account if you apply for residence. Your son's views would also be taken into account if you apply for residence for him but, as he is younger, would carry less weight.

[Lilka]

There's a good advice sheet from the family rights group about Special Guardianship Orders (SGO's), what they mean for you (the parent) and what the difference between a residence order and a special guardianship order - www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_Sheets/20%20-special-guardianship-for-birth-parents.pdf

You can ring them for advice as well if you want. The website is here - www.frg.org.uk/about-us/contact-us

He can't change your daughters surname without the leave of the court. The court could have given him that leave at the same time as they made the order.

Under special guardianship, your PR is very restricted. He is responsible for every day to day decision and your rights are basically limited to

• Refusing permission for a name change (but the court can overule you and it sounds like they have allowed him to do this already)
• Consenting for any procedure which the law requires everyone with PR to consent to
• You have to consent for her to be removed from the country for more than 3 months (but the court can overule you)
• You have the right to oppose an adoption order
• If you strongly disagreed with the guardian on any important specific issue (like a medical procedure), you might be able to apply to the court so the court intervenes and makes the decision.

That's about it

You can't just apply to end the SGO - you need the courts permission to apply to end the order. The court will not give you permission unless you can show that your cirumstances have changed significantly since the SGO was granted. This is a big difference between an SGO and a residence order. You do not have the right to just apply for residence for your daughter.

If the court did given you permission, and then you applied to end the SGO, they would take your daughters views into consideration - but your daughter can't choose where to live, the court will decide.