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moving out of the country

4 replies

pfilfaerie · 09/12/2011 23:47

Just a little advice please, Husbands ex (they were not married) has just told him that she and their 12 year old son are moving to Germany ... can she do this? and what are her rights?
I have to say here that she tends to extend the truth a little; she said it after the school called my husband with welfare concerns over their son (she won't speak to them).
Its a horrid situation would go in to it more but no one would believe the lie's she has told ..

OP posts:
Purpleroses · 10/12/2011 16:31

Does your husband have parental responsibility? The law has changed more recently but 12 years ago he wouldn't have got it automatically when having a child if he wasn't married to the mum. If he doesn't he should apply for it via the court. Without it, she can just move abroad with her son legally whenever she likes. With it, she'd have to get the court's permission first so it would at the very least slow her down a bit.

Whether you'd actually be able to prevent the move would depend on court's views on what's best for the child - history of who's been looking after child, child's views, etc.

pfilfaerie · 15/12/2011 23:20

Ok he is on the birth certificate but as for 'parental responsibility' as such i am not sure that anything is written down? how can i check this?
he has been living with his mum for the last three years but at the moment the school are involved quite heavily as she is not doing the right thing?

OP posts:
ConfessionsOfanEggNogFlask · 16/12/2011 09:52

Where they married when your DSS was born ?

See below- copied from DirectGov

Who has parental responsibility?

A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth. However, the conditions for fathers gaining parental responsibility varies throughout the UK.

In England and Wales, if the parents of a child are married to each other at the time of the birth, or if they have jointly adopted a child, then they both have parental responsibility. Parents do not lose parental responsibility if they divorce, and this applies to both the resident and the non-resident parent.

This is not automatically the case for unmarried parents. According to current law, a mother always has parental responsibility for her child. A father, however, has this responsibility only if he is married to the mother when the child is born or has acquired legal responsibility for his child through one of these three routes:

(from 1 December 2003) by jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother
by a parental responsibility agreement with the mother
by a parental responsibility order, made by a

Living with the mother, even for a long time, does not give a father parental responsibility and if the parents are not married, parental responsibility does not always pass to the natural father if the mother dies.

If your DH has PR I doubt she has the right to move countries without his consent.

Purpleroses · 16/12/2011 09:56

He won't have it then. Fathers named on birth certificates in the last 8 years or so have it. Prior to that he would only those who were married our have applied for it (get papers from court - easy if ex will sign them, if not he has to get court's permission, but would be granted as long as he's got some involvement in DCs lives)

Would sort that out asap if I were your DH. Very few legal rights without it.

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