Children’s passports

[Sotiredofthislife]

Long term separation from ex. Very acrimonious. Handled by me ignoring the ex and his increasingly desperate attempts to get my attention. Self-serving, non- maintenance paying kind of guy but does see the children every week.

Passports for the children need renewing. I paid for the originals and asked him for his passport details at the time but he refused to give them me, so my details only on the original application form. I have not renewed because I wasn’t going abroad this year.

Ex has been buying property abroad (both EU countries) and has told the children to keep this a secret. He has now tried to get them to remove their passports from my home. Fortunately, I had the sense to lodge them with a friend so they have been unable to find them. He has at no point discussed passport renewal with me or mentioned a holiday. Naturally, I am nervous as to his real motives and am now struggling to move forwards.

I have told him that I will renew the passports if he hands over the money and offered to provide receipts by using the check and send service. I have also offed for us to go to the post office together so he pays and can see the renewal application being made.

I have also said that whilst I have no objection to a holiday abroad, I will need to see some evidence of a return ticket before handing over the passports or a Specific Issue Order from the court if he doesn’t want to provide this information.

He has now told the children he is going to simply cancel their passports and get new ones. So my questions are:

• given that I was the original applicant, will the Passport Office simply cancel and renew?
• is my request for evidence of return travel reasonable in the circumstances?
• is there any preventative action I can take to avoid him removing the children from the UK or do I just have to wait for it to happen? Should I seek some kind of Order to prevent travel?
• given that the proposed travel will take place around the end of October, is a no-deal Brexit likely to complicate matters? He will go before but return after.

Thanks for any help and advice.

I’m assuming you have child arrangement order saying the kids reside with you?
If so, he can’t take the children abroad without your permission.
The airport will ask for this when they check his and the kids passports.
Yes, you need destination and return dates because you put that in your signed permission.
See here for more:
www.gov.uk/permission-take-child-abroad

You can also talk to citizens advice.

Brexit won’t affecf it because U.K. is not in Schengen area. We have to go through border control and show passports leaving & entering UK whether in or out of EU

I have a Residence Order, yes. You are assuming he would get asked in the airport or at a port that he has my permission, I have a different name to my children and have never been asked to prove they’re mine.

I am working on the assumption that he will try and cancel the passports. Would he be successful? If there is a chance he can do this, then there is a chance he can get abroad with the children and post-Brexit, will any commitment to returniing children still exist? I feel over-dramatic but I am concerned about his actions and 2 of our children are at crucial,points in their education (year 6 and year 11).

Have the passports expired?

You can seek a prohibited steps order or a specific issue order yourself. Don't rely on bordercstaff stoppung them - no way could they query every lone adult taking children through.

childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/abduction/

Op, he is their father, and I assume he's on their birth certificate. There is nothing to stop him applying for new passports as he can declare that they are lost. There is also nothing to stop him applyngbto the courts to take em on holiday abroad. He would most likely be granted this unless there was a serious risk of him not returning the children.

Have you tried to speak to him? He's asking the kids things about their passports, but you're also asking them about his property abroad.

He has bought a home abroad and isn’t prepared for me know where/how/what and is trying to get their passports without my knowledge. Do you see nothing at all concerning in that?

I have no issue whatsoever with a holiday. I do not understand why he would need to keep it a secret.

Yes, the passports have expired.

He is a bitter, angry man. No maintenance in 12 years. He took me to court when he left and tried to remove a newborn from my care. He has refused to return the children before (some years ago now) and went through a number of years where he made no contact with the children at all. I am not obstructive in anyway but I am worried about his motives.

I'm no expert at all but as a mum I would call the passport office and tell them all of this. I would also contact my family solicitor straight away and seek advice. No matter how much it cost me I would try my hardest to prevent this from happening. It sounds extremely worrying.

I think you can put an alert on the children’s passport renewal if you think he may abduct them.
However I am not a lawyer and I really think you need to get some legal advice ASAP.

If I were you I would get the application into renew them myself ASAP.

As @DollyPomPoms said, renew them yourself and then hide them. I would think the cost would be worth the piece of mind.

What is the point in me renewing them if the ex, who is on the birth certificate and has Parentsl Responsibility, is able to report them lost and have new ones issued?

Your eldest child, who I assume will soon be 16, will not come under the child abduction remit because of his age. If you are quite certain that he may well try to take them out of the country without returning them, then you need to speak to them so they know what to do if this happens. First of all, what country do you suspect he has bought property in? Unless it's within Europe or he is a foreign national he can't keep the children in that country legally anyway.
Make sure they know your mobile number off by heart. If they suspect he's taking them away, they can tell the customs staff who will not let them leave the country without investigating. I really wouldn't worry too much. You have your suspicions, but as the children are teens, it would be nigh on impossible for him to actually abduct them and fail to return them.
Just renew their passports now, make the passport office aware that he may try to take them out of the country illegally so they put a tab on their passports.

Thanks. Yes, have an almost 16 year old but the other 2 are not yet teens. The countries concerned are Bulgaria and France. Less concerned about France because I speak French but Bulgaria is a unknown quantity and the property appears off the beaten track. I have screen-shot photos from his work website in case anything happens but not sure how helpful that may be. Will work on the movile phone number, good idea, because he will remove their phones from them as a first move, I guess. I am so frustrated because they really want to go abroad with their dad and I just want them to have a lovely holiday without any of this hassle.