taking step child to germany

strong96

anyone been in this situation, posted to germany in the summer, i have a daughter (12) from a previous marraige, she has no contact with her father and hasnt done for years, no maintance nothing but have been told i need his permission or go to court or it, is this true, one couldnt tell you if he still lives at old address, what do i do? if i did find him just out of spite he wouldnt say yes because thats the way he is even though hedoesnt give a !!!! about his daughter.

Cat695

How the hell would he know if you did go??

If i was you I would remind him seeing as you know where he is now you could always let the CSA know and they will make his life hell (which they will) or he could just continue not to be part of her life and let her go enjoy seeing the world.

needaspirin

I think you need legal advice on this one from a family lawyer. Here is an extract from the rules on taking a child out of the UK. I'm sure that permission would be granted to take the child abroad as the father has not made any attempt to contact her for years. However as you may be breaking the law if going without the proper permission I think you should cover yourself.

Taking a child temporarily out of the UK

A person in whose favour a residence order has been made can take the child out of the UK for up to a month without needing the permission of anyone else. S/he can also delegate responsibility to someone else who can then take the child out of the UK for up to a month, but it is advisable for her/him to seek permission from anyone else with parental responsibility, since another person with parental responsibility for the child could challenge the decision to delegate in court if s/he disagreed with it.

Where there is no residence order in force, the consent of everybody with parental responsibility is needed before the child can be taken out of the UK, even for a holiday. If consent is refused, the parent who is looking after the child would have to apply to court for a specific issue order to give her/him permission. Anyone who does take a child under the age of 16 out of the UK without the appropriate consent may commit an offence under the Child Abduction Act 1984.

Emigration

If someone with a residence order for a child wishes to emigrate or leave the UK for more than a month, s/he must obtain the consent of everyone with parental responsibility for the child. If any of these people refuse to give consent (or if there is no contact and the relevant people cannot be traced), it is necessary to go to court to apply for permission to remove the child from the UK.

If emigration were proposed, the court would want to ensure that adequate safeguards existed for the child to be brought back to visit other people with parental responsibility. It would normally ask for details of proposals for arranging this. If the court is not satisfied that contact will be continued and considers that emigrating will effectively mean the child loses a parent, it can refuse permission. In this, as in all issues affecting the child, the court must consider what will be in the child's best interests. The court may ask for a court welfare officer's report in these circumstances. It must also find out and take account of the child's wishes according to her/his age and understanding.

Even where there is a contact order in relation to the child, the court may well agree to proposals to emigrate. This may mean that the child loses contact with the person who had the contact order.

strong96

he purposly wont work so he doesnt have to pay csa so csa dont do anything, he knows my mobile number but never bothers with his daughter, my problem is i dont want to find i broke the law if i leave without telling him or the court, in my divorce papers it states she is to live permanantly with me, her name is changed legally to her step dads and he has parental responsibility but her real dad is a vicious git that would do anything to hurt me regardless of his daughter

strong96

so looks like going to my lawyer tomorow and applying to the court to take her out of the country, hopefully it wont be to hard to do and doesnt drag on, with her being 12 she souldbe old enough to give her own opinion

needaspirin

If he is vicious as you say, he will probably make trouble if he finds out that you have taken her away without permission and you will be in the wrong. I'm confident that you will be given permission by the court if you go about it properly. He can hardly claim that he is losing access if he has not bothered to see the child until now.

Cat695

strong96 wrote: »

so looks like going to my lawyer tomorow and applying to the court to take her out of the country, hopefully it wont be to hard to do and doesnt drag on, with her being 12 she souldbe old enough to give her own opinion

I think you will have a strong case as he has never been in touch and you can prove you made the effort to contact him and its not like your emigrating as your just going over because of your job.... just say he can come visit whenever he wants;)

HalfPint

Hiya strong,

Listen to needaspirin...despite the fact he has no contact etc etc you would be breaking the law by taking her out of the country without his permission.

I believe, though i may be corrected if I'm wrong, that you need to make every effort to find him and obtain his permission, then take it to court who should in your circumstances, find in your favour. I agree that a solicitors help would be best in this case.

As tempting as it may be "not to tell" I wouldn't do it.

Just out of interest....can I ask how your hubby managed to obtain parental responsibility for her? I am in a similar position with my kids and my hubby. Their bio father has no contact either and I want to change their name and make sure we are covered incase I die etc etc etc.

strong96

hi yes, went to court an got a residence order which at the same time then gave my husband parental responsibilty , changed her surname by deed poll with solicitors aswell.

needaspirin

Who can change a child's name

The courts have said that:-
• where only one parent or person has parental responsibility for a child, that person can lawfully change the child's name
• where two or more people have parental responsibility for the child, one of them can lawfully change the child's name if all the others agree. Such agreement does not need to be in writing
• where there is a residence order in force, a child's name cannot be changed without the written agreement of anyone else with parental responsibility or the leave of the court

In practice, this means that where the parents are, or have been, married, neither of them can change the child's name without the consent of the other parent. If the parents have not been married, the mother can change the child's name without the father's consent unless he has acquired parental responsibility. However, courts have advised that where there is any dispute about the change of a child's name, the proper way to resolve the issue is by referring it to court.

If a parent (whether married or unmarried) or any other person objects to the change of a child's name, s/he can apply to the court for a prohibited steps order or a specific issue order, which could prevent the change taking place. A client wishing to apply for a court order should be referred to a solicitor.

When deciding whether a child's name should be changed, the court will consider what would be in the child's best interests. This includes any social implications of the change of name, the long term interests of the child and the importance of retaining the existing name, for example, to preserve links with the child's father. In practice, courts are reluctant to agree to a child's name being changed, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

strong96

my daughters name was changed same time as we got residance order and parental responsibility, i just been reading i need a specific issue order from the court for her to come to germany which seem as though i had no prblems with everything else and its the same court it should be straight forward to the fact that we already showed evidance once that the step father pays for her upkeep and boarding school and well being etc and her real dad does squat.