12 year old - holday no consent from dad

[Nomorethistime]

Hi all

anyone know what happens if you take a 12 year old on holiday but with no consent letter from dad. 12 yo has dad surname

Fair point

It’s a crapshoot. I saw someone get put back on a plane to the UK at Dulles due to this.

I have been challenged on coming home (dc’s different surname). I showed them their birth certificates, divorce certificate and new marriage certificate (however I also had an email from dad agreeing) and it was fine. I always carry colour copies when travelling now just in case.

I have been stopped and asked more than once. My children have my surname as a middle name. I was told that was not sufficient proof and that birth certificates and a permission letter were also needed.

my son and his partner took our 12 yr old to Disney in Paris. We all have different names lol they got stopped coming back into the UK. We had seen a solicitor and given my consent to them taking her it cost about 130 pounds and saved us so much hassle. I would do this everytime, get the correct paperwork is my advice.

If you look at the basic statistics you can see why it’s usually different. In these situations it’s usually the mum who has full custody of the child who lives with her full time, and she’s trying to seek permission to take her child for a week in Spain or wherever. Generally speaking, a non residential father’s reasons for taking a child out of the country without the mother’s permission are far more sinister. There’s a thread right now where the op is seeking her rights about the father taking their 5yo boy out the country. The only contact the father has had has been intermittent every few months or so when he can be bothered, the child has to be carried away screaming to see him, and the holiday is the father taking him to his girlfriends country where none of the family even speak English. A bit different, no?

@Fiddlerdragon Yes agree that a father should not be able take take a child abroad without mother's consent and also that there are many examples I'm sure like the ones you have cited that back up stats. However I still think ideally this should go both ways.

On reflection, I realised I was too quick to comment this morning without knowing context as I fell into the trap of thinking about and projecting an emotional reaction based on personal experiences.

If you say 'not all men' and 'sometimes women...' on here you tend to get a pretty groaning response so I'm not going to do that. I do understand there are plenty of cases where a father may equally try to obstruct a mother for no good reason other than to exert control.

I've seen the post you mentioned and the mother is completely reasonable to be concerned given how limited dad's contact is and the scenario described.