Letter from my husband that I can travel with DS

[ElbiTut]

So I am going abroad for the first time alone with my baby boy.
We have different surnames but for that I am thinking birth certificate and marriage certificate will do. I will have them legalized.
But what I am confused about is the letter that I apparently need from my husband OK-ing our trip.
We are not sure if this needs to be also legalized in some way (by a solicitor/lawyer? What is the average price?) or is it literally just handwriting/ typed letter freestyle.

So, what are people doing? Also have you been asked for this letter anywhere? Because honestly I don't think it is a quite common knowledge, I could have easily missed this completely:S

Hey, we've never had ours witnessed or anything. My husband writes the letter, I sign it and he usually takes a video of me holding it just to be safe. He's been asked to show it once I think and travels solo with the children once a year or so.

I have travelled alone with DC a few times and I have been asked for it once. I had a typed out letter ( you can find lots of templates online) with all our details, passport numbers, birth certificate number, flight dates, DH contact details and DH's signature.

I've never been asked for lunch a letter.
I've gone abroad 3 times with our kids but without my husband. It's obvious I'm their mother.

Too late now- but this is yet another reason to hyphenate your children's names.

It doesn't need to be notarised or anything. My dh puts his mobile number on and his work email.

People always say you don't need one or that they have never been asked. If you are going to Majorca for a week in the school holidays then that's probably the case.

If you are doing something more unusual it's necessary. And I don't think the name thing matters. I've got the same name as my dc and passport control are working with thousands of people who don't change their names ever.

If you concentrate you can tell that you and/or your dc are being informally questioned at the airport. 'Ohhhh, are you going on your holidays?' Etc. Mine have been asked 'where's daddy today?' which you don't even notice if you aren't smuggling them over the border.

The worst advice ever.

I travel solo with my kids all the time, different surname, only ever asked once for birth certificate (coming back home!), never asked for this letter (which I don't have, what with me being completely entitled to travel with my children without their dad's permission!).

I travelled solo with them when we were together and since we split, with kids as babies all the way up to tweens, across Europe mainly, but also further afield.

If border security is relying on surnames matching as a way to tell if you should have their kids, it's fucking stupid given how easy it is to change your name.

@Charlie2121 Worst advice ever? Why?

I only ever needed the letter once, funnily enough coming back to UK, but it helps to have it - for the peace of mind. It needs to be just a couple of lines from your ex - I confirm I agreed to my child going on holiday with mum to whatever country you are going to, dates, your name, his name, contact details. Nothing legal, but signed by him.

I always ask for it just in case my ex decides to report me for kidnapping while I'm on holiday (he never done and most likely would not even think about doing it but who knows). I maybe a bit paranoid, but this happened to my friend - and having a signed paper saying her ex allowed to travel would have saved her a lot of headache and stress.

hand written letters, no witness signature is fine. We always send them when the grsbdparebts take the kids abroad.

I have travelled a lot with my kids to see family in the EU country where I am from. It's true, many times they don't ask for a letter at the border.
And I used to never take such a letter until one time I was asked for it at the border when entering the country. I had to ring my husband who then didn't pick up. Then they decided to question my then nine year old son, luckily this satisfied them.
It happened again during this half term - due to a family emergency we couldn't travel together with my husband and, with everything that was going on, I forgot the letter! In any case, they didn't take it further.
Basically, what I am trying to say is... even if people tell you they have never been asked for it... at some point they will be! So better be organised!

I have been asked for it three times - once crossing the USA Canadian border, and once entering China, which we talked our way out of, and once entering India, and we were refused entry - We were refused a visa at the applying stage, so not a situation of being turned away at the airport. We were t

You don't need a letter but if you get a jobs worth a handwritten one is fine, your also don't need your birth or marriage certs, why would marriage give you the right to travel with your son?

I’ve only ever taken my daughter’s birth certificate, never a letter and that’s been fine.

I was once travelling with a friend who was stopped and asked for the letter returning to the UK.

@GreenRaven this sounds implausible, surely your visa wasn't refused because you weren't traveling with a man?

No, my visa was refused because we could not prove both parents agreed to the child entering the country.

By "jobsworth" do you mean a border official taking their duty of care to the welfare of a child seriously?

Do you have any idea how many children are trafficked into slavery in the UK every year? Its thousands.

Too late now- but this is yet another reason to hyphenate your children's names.

I disagree. IME it's only British immigration that is weird about surnames; they seem to think that having the same surname means someone can't abduct their child, and they single out "different surname mothers" to challenge. Other countries are much hotter on children travelling with one parent, and they don't care what your surname is. They will ask for a letter! I always carry one, but just signed by my husband, not notarized.

No passport control officer is going to be worried about a parent and a child having different names from one another. It's the norm in a lot of countries for a start.

I've been asked for a letter before and I've also had my children questioned in a room without me because when they were asked 'where are you going today?' one of them said 'we are going to stay with grandma for ages and daddy is not coming because daddy hates England' or something along those lines.

We practised what to say on subsequent flights.

depends on where you are going. portugal, spain, netherlands are more likely to ask.
south africa and some other countries are very strict as well.
check the requirements were you are going.

Well, you do 'need' it if you want to travel quickly and easily.

i was on a flight to Barcelona earlier this year where mum and 18months old were denied to fly due to having different names. I now always carry a copy of birth certificate and letter from dad. Never been asked even though we have different names but my daughter is the same ethnicity as me unlike the mum and daughter….

I must just have been lucky then. My children have travelled loads with only one parent over the past 25 years. We've both been stopped a couple of times but an explanation of the name and a birth certificate (always a good idea to have that with you anyway) has been all we needed.

Maybe I'll start carrying the court stamped copy of our separation agreement then too :) which states that I don't need his permission to take them abroad, I just have to notify him I'm doing so.

Do you have any idea how many children are trafficked into slavery in the UK every year? Its thousands.

And none of them would think to handwrite and sign a note purporting to be from another parent? What possible security does this letter add?