Legal right to hold a passport

[guest]

Not sure if I am posting in the right place, but I would appreciate any advice.

A woman I know split from her DH, remarried, and left her kids with their father to move abroad with the new man.

The children's father has since brought them up. The woman left one of her children's passports with a relative of the new DH. She has instructed this relative not to pass the passport onto her ex. The exDH is concerned that the woman might be planning to take one of the children out of the country, effectively abducting the child.

Does anyone know whether it is legal for someone other than a child's parent to refuse to hand over their passport. What action should the exDH take to ensure that his child is not taken from this country without his permission? Or can the child's mother take her child abroad without his permission (even though the child has been living with him)?

Bumping for you. You could try posting in Legal also.

There is information about parental child abduction on the Foreign Office website. For issues to do with passports, there is also a lot of information on the Identity and Passport Service website; for example here, here and here.

This is obviously a very difficult situation. If your friend is concerned that his children may be abducted and taken abraod without his consent, he should seek advice now from a solicitor.

Many thanks for those links!

You're welcome. I hope the children's father gets the legal advice that he needs.