Taking child abroad

I am very anxious about this & can't find the answer anywhere else I've looked online.
My divorce came through finally after over 6 years separation, I am waiting to apply for the decree absolute. My child is 13 & on the divorce forms we agreed no maintenance from my ex & for the contact to only be at her initiation & with another adult present.
I have formed a relationship with someone abroad & am planning to go out there to stay, with my child, for 6 months initially & if we both all agree, to marry & live out there.
I am worried sick by someone telling me that my ex can put a stop to our child going there because I would not leave without her but do so much want to live with my new partner & make a new life out there.
I would be so grateful for any advice on this.

Hi there - welcome to wiki.

I am afraid I dont have the best news for you.


To be able to take a child abroad you need dad's permission, or if that is not forthcoming, the permission of the court.

To obtain permission from the court you will have to show:

1. That you have considered contact, and you put forward very decent proposals;
2. That your reason for going is not to damage the relationship between dad and the children;
3. That the economic circumstances of the children will not decrease;
4. That the housing circumstances will not decrease;
5. That the education the children will receive is at least as good as that they receive now;
6. That the location is generally safe;
7. That overall you have a considered and well put together plan for the move.

If you remove them without consent he can apply to have the returned under either the European ConvenTion or the Hague Convention (depending where you go), which means the children are collected from you, brought back here, and then you fight it out in the High Court.

Sorry it isnt the news you wanted
Amanda

Thank you for the reply, I can see the validity of that in some circumstances but in my particular case, given the history, it seems a little unfair - not that divorce where children are involved can ever be 'fair'.

Is this the case until my child becomes 16?

I may as well apply straight to the courts the, since he's not likely to want to ever agree to anything we want to do, thanks for the thorough breakdown of what they'll consider, yes, of course it's better for my child - I wouldn't consider taking her otherwise, also he's wanted very little contact & talked for the last few years about moving to live in Goa, so I didn't consider my move to be detrimental to him.

Thanks

Hi there

Unfortunately law quite often isnt fair, simply because it is just a set of rules that apply to everyone without distinguishing between individual circumstances.

This would apply until your son is 16, although from what you have posted it does not appear to me like you will have a problem, one of the key factors being minimal contact.

You can self rep in these cases. What you are applying for is a "Specific Issue Order" to move the child to X, and to apply you complete a C1 application form and send it to your local County Court (not the Family Proceedings Court as they do not have the ability to deal with these cases) in triplicate, with a cheque for £175 made payable to HMCS unless you are fee exempt.

The only real thing you will need assistance with is your statement, as the case will either stand or fall on that. However, if you want to go it alone with that, you need to consider all the points in my previous post and have them in the statement. These come from the case of Payne v Payne, which is the leading authority on these cases. If you want a copy let me know.

Amanda

Thank you so much for this information, I actually do feel a lot better for knowing the real situation & what I may have to do. Have decided to ask my ex first for his written acceptance of us going for 6 months & take it from there, if my son doesn't like it, i'd come back anyway, but he'd have many more opportunities out there & I'd be surprised if he didn't love it, he always has on holiday, although I know that's different from living somewhere.

At least I know what the fall back plan is, if he refuses to agree. Partly I want to move abroad because he has been abusive & threatening to me & the children in the past - I now regret not getting a court order against him when I could have & divorcing on unreasonable grounds, because I feel that would make my case stronger now, but I felt sorry for him as he is an alcoholic. I really wish I'd thought this all through years ago but I didn't expect to be considering being with a new partner ever again having been unhappily married for so many decades.

Would the fact that I have chosen, to not have any child support from him, help my case or is that irrelevant?

Thanks again

Mary

divorcelawyer wrote:
These come from the case of Payne v Payne, which is the leading authority on these cases. If you want a copy let me know.

Amanda

Yes please, it may be very useful for me to look at that if it is an influential case.

Mary

Hi Mary

It may sound trite, but hindsight is such a wonderful thing .

The fact that you receive no child support will not be decisive, but will certainly help your case.

Re Payne - can you PM me (go to send me a message on the left) an email address pls? I still dont know how to send attachments from here !

Amanda