If you've just moved here with family, please be aware of NZ stance on relocation

[norightsnz]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm trying to get this message out to as many folk as I can.

If you've just moved here with your partner and kids and the relationship goes pear-shaped and you want to go back home, but your partner doesn't. You're stuck here til your kids turn sixteen.

There's an ever-increasing community of stuck parents all over NZ.

We all wish we'd known this before we stepped on the plane.

Just getting the message out there. For the skeptics, check out www.norightsnz.co.nz where we've been documenting our stories, and relocation rulings.

Hague Convention. It exists for a good reason.

I don't agree that 'everyone knows'. There are still threads on MN where women are contemplating moving to a spouse's 'home country' or a different country altogether and they often say "If I don't like it, I'll just take the DC and move back home" or who abscond with their children and forced to 'bring them back' and are shocked when Hague is explained to them. They seem to think Hague only applies to a father taking a mother's children to another country, not the other way round or not when it comes to 'going home'.

At any rate, there are thousands of things that 'everybody knows' be it Hague, cohabiting couples having no rights, or that 'common law marriage' doesn't exist in many countries. They still need to be shouted from the rooftops just in the off chance that somebody missed that particular memo.

It didn't make sense to me because there's not a lot of information. Eg. I couldn't work out if they were saying that you couldn't relocate your children out of the country unless your (ex?) partner agreed, if this was the case for all children born there or if it was if the other parent was a NZ national.

If it's the first one then I thought it was pretty common that you couldn't move your children to another country without parental say so?

I went on the website and the weird memes made it even more confusing

When my job moved overseas my company provided specific legal advice to both me and separately my now ex about The Hague convention and it’s implications. They always do. That should be standard practise and it’s dreadful that it isn’t.