Permission to take my toddler abroad

[sopbarn]

Hello all,

I have a question about someone taking my toddler abroad. Basically, myself and my partner are off on a mini honeymoon next month. Going to Italy for a few days, then heading to Sardinia where my sister, her partner and another family will be bringing our 3 year old to meet us. We're very excited! I'm aware my sister will need written permission from myself and my partner, plus his birth certificate. I was also told it's good to get a notary solicitor to sign the letter. Anyway, I just called up and was told it's £350 to sign it. We've been saving so hard to afford this little honeymoon/ holiday, £350 seems almost impossible! Does anyone have experience with another family member taking a child from the UK to Italy. We'll all be travelling back on the same flight...
Thanks xx

I am not sure that anyone will even ask to be honest. I take my son away and we have different surnames etc. I always travel with a signed letter from his dad that gives me permission to travel etc but it has never been checked. We downloaded a template letter that is signed by the parent and a witness. I suspect its massively over kill to get a notary solicitor to pay to sign it.

Passports will not be checked leaving the UK, and if your DS's party is obviously going on holiday, the Italian border force are not going to give her a third-degree kidnap investigation just because the name on DD's passport doesn't match DS's.

You could write a letter (I, XX passport number 123, give my sister YY passport number 456 permission to bring my daughter ZZ passport number 789 on holiday, in case of problems phone me on +44 12345), but I wouldn't bother getting it notarised. The absolute worst case is that the border police phone you, and you have to go to the airport.

I wouldn't even bother with birth certificates. You do, of course, have all of your documents like that (birth/marriage, passports, driving licences, etc etc etc) scanned and available on your cloud storage so they can be called up at a moment's notice in case of loss or sudden need, don't you? 😎

Write a letter sign and date it

https://www.gov.uk/permission-take-child-abroad#:~:text=A%20letter%20from%20the%20person,about%20taking%20a%20child%20abroad.

I would write a letter that includes your contact details for your sister.
They rarely check ime but in case of emergency, they could call you to check.

Good point. I forgot to add in my PP that the main use of this letter is probably not for crossing borders, but more for the very unlikely case that DS needs to act in loco parentis in case DD needs urgent medical attention. You could add wording to that effect.

Thanks all. I thought it seemed crazy. We'll write a letter and have all details on hand just in case.