Permission to take daughter abroad for 2 weeks

[Dewdrop71]

I booked a hols to Turkey 4 months ago and now its 4 weeks away!

I am not on good terms with my daughters dad atall and I am worried he'll stop us leaving the country.

Is there a way of obtaining a court order to allow us to travel without having to involve my ex?

Has anyone & child been stopped from entering a country abroad because they didn't have both parents permission? Fyi my daughter & i do not share the same surname!!!

Yes you could go to court to get permission. Would he not sign a letter giving you permission?

If he has PR, you do need (a) his consent, or (b) a court order to remove your daughter from the country, otherwise you are committing an offence of child abduction (I know, it seems bonkers....but there are good reasons for the rule).

If you're really worried about him being difficult, I'd be cautious about going without one of those things, because he could certainly cause some very big problems for you.

The easiest way is for him to sign a letter of consent.

If he refuses, you could seek a Specific Issues Order allowing you to take her on holiday. You've left it quite close to the wire, to get a court date for that - so you'll need to move fast and seek an urgent hearing.

You could go without either consent or an order - and you may well not be asked, and he may well not report it. You know him better than we do, and are better placed to speculate as to what he would do. Nobody can give you an indication of whether Immigration in the UK or at your destination will seek proof of consent - sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

So, best bet is the letter. Is your daughter old enough (a teen) to help encourage him to give consent?

Can I jump on this thread too? I've read that you can take them for 28 days without permission, but anything longer is counted as abduction.

I want to take my daughter away this christmas, but have no way of getting permission of my ex as I have no contact with him. Have no idea what I would do. Really dont want to go to court and possibly have to get in contact with him again.

the 28 days without permission rule only applies when there is a child arrangements order that states the child lives with you. If there is no order then legally you have equal parental responsibility [even if child has no contact with one parent]
You can go without getting his permission but I would ensure you have birth certificate and sufficient ID passports etc.

Its only 28 days without permission if the following applies:

You can take a child abroad for 28 days without getting permission if achild arrangement order says the child must live with you, unless a court order says you can’t.

www.gov.uk/permission-take-child-abroad

Spoke to a solicitor & he assured me we can go on hols ( for up to 28 days ) without exs permission. Assuming we have details of a return flight. He said not to worry as people go on holiday all the time with no problems!

I don't think he is correct unless you have a child arrangement order that says the child must live with you

a solicitor & he assured me we can go on hols ( for up to 28 days ) without exs permission.

The quality of solicitors these days is shocking...

It may be a legal requirement but I take my kids abroad all the time and no one has ever asked me if I have permission from their father (he’s dead but they don’t know that). Maybe different if I had a different last name? But I have friends who kept their maiden name and they’ve never had a problem either.

You should take this over to the Legal board where you'll get sensible advice from the solicitors who lurk there...its a commion question