ExP & options if he refuses DC permission to travel

[Bigsislookingforadvice]

Hi
Looking for advice on behalf of my sister.
ExP (split 6 months) is not seeing DC unsupervised atm due to his behaviour - swearing at child, swearing about their Mom to DC, not collecting on time, not getting to school on time & just generally being awkward & difficult.
Sister ended the relationship after 1000s of small things and not prioritising DC ie bring unavailable on days off work to look after during school holiday because it was his day off despite my sister working and he agreeing but obviously a better offer cane along. Sorry you get the picture. She's had to block him on phone & now emails due to abusive messages about her seeing other people, lying to him etc - he's struggling to separate seeing his child as an individual, he doesn't want sister to have free time or to plan her life.
School are involved due to DC disruption & playing up following contact with him. Early help are also getting involved to try & sort a plan going forward.

Anyway to question. Sister has booked a holiday for her DC & my aunt for may holiday & in August for me, my ptr, her & DC.
I believe she needs his permission - what happens if he just plays awkward and say no ? Can he enforce this and how can sister go forward ?
Thank you

He can say no. Your sister can take the child anyway. He will have to go through court to stop her taking the child abroad. If it's not abroad then permission isn't needed. He had to have valid reasons not to let you sister take the child on holiday. Reasons need to be threat or danger to the child, fear she is fleeing the country with the child and not going to return. Check with a solicitor. You can get 30 mins free consultation and or speak with citizens advice

He has to prove the holiday is not in the best interest of the child and evidence why

That's interesting, thank you.
I suspect he'll piss around deciding but he's parents will eventually remind him it's about DC.
Ironically the holiday in May is only with aunt because it's a covid rescheduled holiday that he'd refused to go on when they were stil together because it was a child centred holiday.

If my sister said ok you have DC for the week while age holidays he'd shit himself - prior to stopping contact he went to his parents if he had visit longer than few hrs

Does she share the same surname as the child?

No - against my advive to double barrel she agreed to his surname only as that's what he wanted

She can go if its less than 28 days without his consent, as long as there is a residency or CAO in place in her favour

If she has a child arrangement court order she can take them abroad for 28 days without his permission. It doesn't sound like anything has gone to court though, so she should write a formally request his written permission, giving him maybe two weeks to respond. Then go to court for a specific issue order - couple of hundred quid.

@bellac11 there is nothing official in place through the courts atm.
She wants/wanted to be amicable - but he's currently not being reasonable with his behaviour or in planning how to resolve the issues

[quote Bigsislookingforadvice]@bellac11 there is nothing official in place through the courts atm.
She wants/wanted to be amicable - but he's currently not being reasonable with his behaviour or in planning how to resolve the issues[/quote]
Ok, then yes she does need his consent unfortunately

@titchy thank you - how long does the specific issue order take ? She has booked for end of May school holiday - and is it needed for each holiday or can it be granted for sister to be able to take holidays as and when ?
Thanks

She really needs either a court order saying she has some parental authority, a court order saying she can travel overseas for c days without consent or a letter of consent from him (which should have his contact details on it because they can call him to check he's given permission) in reality she may not be asked but be aware it could and does happen, my friend forgot to take her exh's death certificate once and got stopped at Heathrow, thankfully they could access records and prove he was dead

[quote Bigsislookingforadvice]@titchy thank you - how long does the specific issue order take ? She has booked for end of May school holiday - and is it needed for each holiday or can it be granted for sister to be able to take holidays as and when ?
Thanks[/quote]
The courts have very little space at the moment, family courts included. We are waiting months and months for final hearings.

If he contests it, which he might to be awkward, it could drag on

I think in the first instance he needs to be persuaded by helpful members of the family to write permission in a letter and thereafter she needs to make sure she has a CAO in place

@bellac11
That's exactly what I was thinking - I'll pen a letter/ pro forma for both holidays. My sister can email it to his mother and ask for him to give permission. Hopefully she'll be able to help him see it's on DC benefit and sign.

If he doesn't & the holiday has to be cancelled because she cannot get a court order I think all ideas if being amicable & understanding of him will be out the window.