I am a Mum in UK separated by husband who is in India with our child who is British by birth . Can I bring my child without my husband permission to UK?

[Vindz]

Hi there,
Me and my husband are married under Hindu law in India, our only child is born in England.
My Husband had to leave UK to India due toy in-laws health and had to send our child. Plans were only to stay in India for 6 months maximum. I work in UK full time and manage bills, mortgage. After nearly one year, I was thinking as distance relation now , my husband calls this separation ! he verbally spoke to me that he will be applying for divorce in India in next few weeks and have to fight for child custody. I am so much thinking to fly to India and secretly get my child back to UK before the court proceedings begin. Will this OK ?

What are you planning to do about the child's passport?

How come the child went with?

I think you should seek legal advice tbh.

India is not a Hague signatory country. So he has full parental rights for any child there as per their law. If he refuses to return the child, then you will have a long and expensive fight. Where the country of residence for the child will not support you. I'm sorry, but the likelihood of the child returning to the UK without his consent is minimal.

OP your post is very confusing.
Are either of your British citizens - hence passing this status on to your child? What was your original nationality?
How old is your child and why did you send them over in the first place?
This whole setup sounds very dodgy

You sent your child to India? Why?

My child”s British passport is with safe with my mother (grandmother to my child) in India

My child is 7 years old, due to family in-law”s health situation, my husband during last year given the circumstance. We both decided, child care in India will be best due to various reason- she can learn language, culture. Note : My mother (my child”s grandma) luckily stays 10 miles away from my in-laws house. My child goes to school during weekdays and my husband drops child during weekends at my mother”s place. As a mother, it’s hard ! But my child is getting all the right privileges. Versus me as single parent , working full time job in UK and childcare last year would be different.
Following, this sudden , verbal divorce separation issue. I now gather the strength to think : I have got into routine , being a single person working, quite stable financially to fund the expenses for childcare future, my employer is supportive of me going part time.

Me , my husband and my child hold British passport. I reside and work in UK. My husband is working in India.

What is best for your child? You need to think carefully if your plan to take your child out of school and away from their home and family is because it's the best thing for the child, or if you're just doing it out of anger and pettiness.

I understand, this may sound pettiness. I visited every 3 to 4 monthly (3 trips to India in last 11 months). It was hard to come back without my child and my husband.

I have been discussing with my husband, that School starts in UK during September, I will be bringing her back. He did not have any issues since last 6 months. Now, he wants divorce and custody. Not sure, with given situation to get my child without his permission ?

Seek legal advice before you do anything.

You accepted your child staying long term abroad with her father and family. She attends school and most likely she is hsppy?

it won't be easy to demand residens in UK and full parental rights. I am sorry.

In this instance your child's nationality is irrelevant what matters is where she is habitually resident and that is India and been there with your consent. Its possible not being a signatory to the Hague convention would go in your favour because if they were a signatory the UK would have to send the child back to India, I'm just not sure what the situation is now and whether the uk courts would still send the custody case to India to deal with. You need to speak to a specialist lawyer, doing the wrong thing would inflame the situation and legally put you on the back foot.

Surely it would be better for the child who is settled and who has their entire family in India for you to move back there. It's not fair to take a child who is settled and has extended family they see regularly and bring them back here to live just with you and go into unrelated childcare

I appreciate your desire to have your child with you now he's mentioned separating but that doesn't sound like it is what is best for your child and that should be what you are thinking about.

Your child has been living there for a year now. They are settled, have local ties and family and presumably had he not mentioned separating this arrangement would have continued indefinitely?

It doesn't sound like the situation in the UK has changed since you made the choice to send them to India so is it in their interests to be back in the UK? Would it not make make more sense for you to be in India?

I mean you could try and go over and take your child and bring them to the UK.

But I would imagine you risk being arrested.

Is this really what’s best for your child?

I think there might be a reciprocal agreement though so it may be worth an application to the High Court (I've worked on several such cases in the past, I can't remember exactly what legal route the lawyers used but they were successful in some instances).

First things first, OP you need to contact the charity Reunite. They specialise in exactly this kind of issue: https://www.reunite.org/

Absolutely agree with this. Your family is in India too.

If divorce hasn’t started, then is your suggestion to go get your child when they are staying with your mother, leave with their British passport without your husband knowing, (as you’d go in the time he thought his dc was just being cared for by your mum and he doesn’t know you are in the country) then effectively make him apply for divorce and try to get your dc back to India from the UK?

it will increase the chance you’ll get your dc to stay in the UK if they are already here at the point divorce starts, but not guaranteed. Is he the type who would fight or once he had to deal with uk courts, just wash his hands of you?

(personally I’d do it)

But yes, the best would be for you to move to India and co parent, this would be best for your child.

IANAL OP - but in this case I see no harm in you getting your child back to the UK. She's 7 and has only been in India a year - by the time court proceedings etc occur she'll have been back in the UK for longer than that, so they can't force you to give her back.

Especially as you're both British, not Indian citizens. India doesn't allow dual nationality. Although the OCI status grants similar rights.
PP saying 'go back to India' don't know the first thing about it. It's very different from the UK and once you've gotten used to life here it can be hard to go back. Why should you throw away everything you worked for because your husband made a decision?

Indian family dynamics can also be very difficult for a DIL.

OP, please don't take advice from random Mumsnetters. There are lots of knowledgeable and helpful posters but it's not possible to know who they are. For something like this you need proper legal advice.

Wishing OP the best of luck in being reunited with your DD in the UK. There must have been a reason why your mum held the passport, hope it all works out.