Residency Order - advice needed please

[starfish101]

Hi all

I'm after a little advice. My partner and his ex wife agreed last week that their daughter will love with my partner as she and her Mum are not getting on and it's what they both want. My partner is in the army and so today has been to see the Welfare Officer who has advised they need to get a residencey order otherwise he could be charged with kidnapping. Is this correct?

When looking at a residenct orders all the information states they have to go to mediation, is this essential as they are both in agreement. Also a friend of mine has advised it will cost approx £3k to arrange a residency order, does anyone have any experience of this and is this figure correct? It seems a lot when they are not in dispute.

Amy advice would be greatly appreciated.

That's absolute rubbish what the army has told your DP. If the two parents agree, they are completely free to decide between them which of them their child lives with, and to change it around as often as they wish.

You'd only need a residency order if they disagreed, as it's a way of setting out legally what the agreed split of residency is.

Is your DP asking the army for some time off or different working arrangements because of having his DD live with him? If so a letter from her mum confirming the change of arrangements, and a child benefit letter in his name (which he can apply for once he's the resident parent) ought to suffice.

Does your partner have parental responsibility? If not, or if your DSD will be left in your sole care while your DP is deployed, then a residency order, or some other documentation regarding residency, would be required.

If he's already got PR though, then courts operate on the basis of a "no order" principle - meaning if the parents agree,then they won't issue an order.

I cam kind of see where they are coming from although their information is massively out of date!!

to cover his own back I would suggest that he speaks to his solicitor and gets a document drawn up that details they are both in agreement and the reasons why then get his ex to sign it (or save a fortune and do it himself).

I would assume that the army have probably seen this happen a lot in the past and are trying to avoid negative press.

Peruvian - the OP refers to her DP's ex-wife - so I would assume they were married and he therefore would automatically have PR for his DD regardless of when she was born. (If they weren't married, OP, then he'll have it only if his DD was born after 2003 when the law changed, or has applied for it since)

yellow I don't like to assume - a subsequent marriage doesn't automatically infer PR if the father was not named on the birth certificate.

Hi, I've only just seen this post. Here is a helpful website - www.gov.uk/looking-after-children-divorce/overview

Even if you are in agreement, you will still need a residency order. Anyone can apply for a residency order, but it costs £215. You will not need solicitors as you are able to do this 'unrepresented'.

Best of luck

There's no such thing as a residency order anymore and a court order will only be made where it is necessary to do so. If both parents are in agreement then it is not necessary for the court to make a Child Arrangements Order and they won't make one (see the No Order principle).