Son's passport confiscated by abusive controlling dad

[NyraKali]

Hi
My friend is in desperate need of help as she is trying to come out of abusive, coercive relationship. her ex has confiscated her son's passport when she is supposed to take him on holidays. her ex recently had her arrested on false allegations and police took her at 10pm at night in front of her son. I cannot even imagine what her poor son must be going through. She is feeling so helpless and in desperate need of help. Any advice would be appreciated. thanks

how old is her son?

12 yr, 13 this month

When is the holiday booked for? She should go to court and get them to order its return, and be given permission to take her Ds abroad, at the same time. If he claims to have lost it, a replacement is pretty quick, only about 10 days.

It must have been very stressful being taken in for questioning by the police, but at least now, they know he is a malicious abusive cretin, and it won't happen again.

in 2 weeks
its bit complicated as she is taking her out of school for few days. She had informed the school so they are aware.He is trying to create trouble with that as well whereas he himself took the kid out of school for no apparent reason. this holiday is supposed to be very educational. Her son is very distraught nd he is the most cheerful, smiley, respectful child I've ever met.
She has lost hope as system doesnt seem to be right. Police confiscated her phone on his false allegations. She went to police in jan this year as he was constantly bullying and threatening her and her family. They arrested him after 1.5 months and left him after 3/4 hours and closed the case. But kept her for so long in cell, knowing well her son is at home.
She is so disheartened as her lawyer is sying there is not much hope on financial side as well.
She is worried if she goes any further, tries to contact charities, etc, her ex can do something even worse.
Can she go for CAO?

are there any portals where she can get proper legal advice for free? She is scared of just going to police as they didn't do anything before and now that she is out on bail she cannot risk anything.

Can she report his passport as lost and get a new one issued as an emergency? Will have to pay and probably attend the passport office but that would work.

Or go to police and report his dad for takibg the passport

Why is she on bail? The police must think there’s potential truth to the allegations?

How did he get hold of the passport?

This is what I would do.

are there any court orders in place wrt the son and can she afford £61.50 to replace @NyraKali?

eta .gov site

I'd report it stolen, ime, passports only taking 1wk turnaround atm (that was for a renewal though)

even if she tries to get new passport, she will still need his permission unfortunately. Thats why she is thinking of CAO

Replacing the passport isn’t going to solve the issue though. Presumably he isn’t going to give permission?

As for being out on bail, ex showed police a pic of himself with the dominatrix he sees and said she has that pic and has shown it to her family. she said she's never seen that pic. she has found an email where he says that she cannot have any pics as he doesnt have any and gave her instagram page of domme, asking her to see saying maybe she will find him there and that he is not ashamed of it. she was asking if she should show that email to policve now or wait a bit as she had to come out custody by saying no comment

I’m sorry what?

She absolutely shouldn't do this given she's on bail. She needs to write off this holiday I expect and needs to apply to court for an urgent specific issues order to request permission to go on holiday and retrieve the passport.

yup. this is just the tip of iceberg. he has been so controlling and demeaning. it was a very long marriage and he stayed on because of her son's. her confidence is in tatters, she wanted to give up everything if he would keep her boys happy and at peace

yup. this is just the tip of iceberg. he has been so controlling and demeaning. it was a very long marriage and he stayed on because of her son's. her confidence is in tatters, she wanted to give up everything if he would keep her boys happy and at peace

It sounds very messy. Can’t her lawyer write him a threatening letter?

Unpopular opinion here especially on MN but if they have arrested and bailed her they must have actual evidence of wrong doing so someone not giving full story and she obviously done something to warrant bail and what ever bail condition police have set down

It sounds like the holiday is a bust and just accepting that will release some of the stress.

Her main problem in life atm is defending herself against the allegations he has made. It sounds like he has alleged she is committing revenge porn using the photo you mentioned. She will have to cooperate with the police investigation and await a decision on charging. That could happen very quickly or very slowly. It all depends on what evidence needs to be gathered and reviewed. The fact that they have taken her phone suggests it needs to be interrogated. Which can take some time.

She needs to listen to her lawyer. And their advice that she sits on her hands and waits this out might be the only thing she can do. They should explain whether she can get court approval in time for the holiday or if it is worth doing.

Without their advice she shouldn’t escalate things further by reporting a passport stolen if it isn’t. He hasn’t confiscated it he just has it. She shouldn’t just go on the holiday without his agreement or a court order.