Travelling abroad without parental permission

[humphreysabout]

My daughter cut all contact with her daughter's dad. He is a violent abusive drug addict so my daughter was advised to cut contact to be protective. He has never pursued contact through the courts. Now my daughter wants to take her daughter aboard but apparently she needs his written consent. Does she really need to initiate contact with him to get his permission? He's only just stopped hassling her (abusive threatening messages) and there is no way he'll agree, even though he hasn't had any contact for 3 years. My daughter also doesn't want him to know her new address. Does he get to control her life forever?

Which surname does she have. My dc have my surname and I've never been stopped and asked for permission from exdp.

She has my daughter's name. Interesting you've never been asked. She's been reading stories of people getting to airports and being unable to fly without a permission letter.

The mother only needs to get permission if she’s taking the children abroad for over a month.

My partners ex has never asked for permission to take their child abroad (my step daughter) and never had any problems.

He would never stop her though as it would be his daughter that misses out.

I have a different surname to my kids and we are British but in France. Kids born in France. We have the official document which shows in their parent. That is what's required. In your DDs situation I would just have copies of their birth certificates. She just needs to prove she's the mother.

Legally she needs permission if the dad has parental responsibility - unless she has a child arrangements order to say the child should live with her, in which case she could take her abroad for up to a month. She may well never have a problem in practice. The right thing to do though would really be to apply to the court for a specific issue order or child arrangements order for the court to give her permission. If she has good evidence - from police or social services - about the drugs and violence, then she should try to get the court to grant the order without the need to tell the father about the application.

The taking abroad for a month only applies if a child arrangement order has been issued by a court otherwise it is not allowed without consent from all people with parental responsibility. Your daughter will probably be ok but it is possible that she could be prevented from flying. No one can say for certain what will happen.

You need to check the destination. I read on here recently that South Africa was super strict about one parent travelling with the child (something about legally witnessed letter needed?) but I have not been stopped travelling with my kids (who share my surname)

Legally you're supposed to and threads like this are often filled with tales of doom and insistence that you must get permission but I have travelled all over the world with my children as a single parent and never once been asked, personally I would just do it as it's never been an issue for me.

Yes SA, Canada and Mexico are very strict on having letters of consent from the absent parent.

Sadly yes, we make stupid choices with the best of intentions...then have to live with the consequences ...and see the impact of those on our children. It sucks. He will always be somewhere in the background because he's the child's father. A violent thug he maybe, but he has legal rights, they don't get waived because he's an absent nightmare.

I think its disgusting that your daughter has been told to do this, putting herself and child at risk.

Personally I wouldn't be doing anything to bring his attention again.

Who was it that advised she cut contact? Could you seek advice from them?

Best of luck with it.

I agree with the where is she going . I have been many times to canaries and Greece. I am no contact with Ds’s dad and no idea where he is . I do take birth certificate but have only ever had my son asked if I am his Mum ( fortunes he said yes )

Thank you so much for the replies. I think she's going to speak to a solicitor about getting a proper arrangement in place if we can do it without making contact. This is probably a good idea anyway just in case anything should ever happen to DD.

Thanks again.