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My brother has a 3 month old with his wife.

They agreed to separate as their relationship is not good.

She agreed to this and joint custody (verbally) a couple weeks ago and the plan being that she was going to remain in the house they have now and he was going to move elsewhere.

However she has changed her mind as said she is taking the child away to another country so he has no involvement

Where does he stand as court can take a long time and she said she is leaving next month, is there anything we can do?

There are laws to stop this unless a court agrees as it amounts to abduction for which there are international agreements. You can also have the child's passport marked in systems so it is picked up they tried to leave the country

He needs to get urgent legal advice and an urgent order from the court to prevent this. Will cost around £1k-£2k to get the initial order.

As MarieG10 says, she cannot legally take her child out of the country without his consent. If she does so she will be committing a criminal offence. Having said that, there is a good chance she will be able to get out of the country with the child - many single parents take their children abroad illegally every year without problems.

Your brother may be able to stop her getting a passport for the child but this will need a court order.

If she is not a UK national it may be worth contacting the relevant embassy.

If he believes his child is likely to be taken out of the country within 48 hours he can go to the police.

But above all he needs to consult a solicitor who deals with family law as soon as possible. The courts can be quick if necessary.

Your brother should apply for a prohibited steps order, without notice. He will need forms C100 and C1A and a position statement.

If he wants to formalise child arrangements, he can do it at the same time using the C100 form. Although this is with notice and could take a while.

He should also make a note of every time his ex made threats to remove their child.

Also see www.reunite.org/ they have a phone line and can provide some very useful advice.

He can stop her taking the child abroad, however, he will find it harder to stop her moving 100 miles away in the uk, so he needs to try as much as possible to be amicable with her.