Family court - permission to move abroad

[ItIsLife]

Ex and I have ongoing court proceedings for a child arrangement order and prohibited steps order. Cafcass S7 has come back recommending a lives with CAO in my favour and a prohibited steps order stopping him removing the children from my care. Supervised contact for ex once a month. I won't go into the details, but there is a significant history of DV. Final hearing should be in a month.

Now I am originally from another European country (1hour flight) and my whole family is still based there. I am considering relocating to be close to them as my support network. Would I be best of asking for permission from court (ex wont agree) as part of this final hearing or should I treat this completely separately, see if ex sticks with arrangements of supervised contact and then consider applying for a special issue order to be allowed to move?

I can't afford a solicitor anymore, grateful for any advice.

Not a legal opinion, but how cheap can you get a flight back once a month? I’d go, book said flights for next three months, and turn up each time for his contact, and see if he shows. Then go from there.

In four months time if you can show they’ve got great family ties at home, and despite spending €€€ and time to return every month he’s shown up once, you’ve got a very strong case to now reduce contact.

However, if he does show up each time, you will have to be prepared to do this each month for the foreseeable future.

Do NOT remove them from the country without permission.

Wait to see what the final order is, and see if he sticks to it.

If you say you are thinking of going abroad, it changes everything. You have not told the court your full plans. You must therefore stick to what you have said you will do. It otherwise looks like you have lied and are willing to disrespect the court order. If you had said you wanted to live abroad, this would have affected the court decision. So you have to see if the order will work. Then go back to get it changed. However why didn’t you mention it before?

Imo keep your plans close to your chest. Or he may suddenly pull his socks up... Give it a few months and see how he manages whatever contact he gets first.

Thanks all, very helpful advice. I applied for the lives with CAO at the end of last year when we separated and he was arrested, and at that point it was just to have the security against his threats to take the children from me really. Since then I've been thinking about our future and best location. Flights are cheap but I won't go down the route of taking the children without permission, it might help in arguing that monthly contact will still be possible if I do ask court for permission further down the line.

This is a terrible suggestion! You’re suggesting the children lie to their father about where they’re living?

You can't remove the children from this country without his permission. If the court had been aware of your wish / plan to relocate it would have been a factor considered in the contact arrangements. Moving abroad will impact contact and therefore seems unlikely to be something the court will grant. The courts don't appreciate cases being returned very quickly (i.e. with in a couple of years of a final order being made) for substantial changes unless something significant has changed.

It is not uncommon for child arrangement orders to have an international element with parents living or wishing to live in different countries. Permission to move a child abroad can be applied for using a Specific Issues Order.

Whether or not permission is granted depends on:
-Your arguments for why it will be better for a child to live abroad than in England.
-The depth of relationship between the child and other parent.
-Your plan or willingness to facilitate contact between the child and other parent across borders.
-The relationship between the child and family members in the other country.
-Whether of not the child has special or medical needs that are best met here than abroad.
-Age of child + their wishes and feelings.

If you are a resident parent you are permitted to take the child abroad for 28 days without consent from the parent. I wouldn’t rush into making a Specific Issues Order but first, take my time to write a proposal, perhaps event travel to the country for a few short holidays to research places to live and child care options etc.

Basically you need to give the court the impression that you have researched and thought everything through. After all, the child’s welfare isn’t just your responsibility but also the responsibility of the court. The will make the decision that’s in the best interest of the child.

@BeNice01 thank you so much for taking the time to provide this detail, it's really helpful.