Taking child on holiday with husband's consent - does letter need to be notarised?

[Deleted User] · 19 March 2019 at 11:28AM

Hi, I would appreciate some help.

A mother is taking her child on a European cruise with her grandma.
The father/husband is not going but is fine about it. Family name is the same for father, mother & child and the couple are married, not separated or divorced.

gov.uk web page Get permission to take a child abroad says "You automatically have parental responsibility if you’re the child’s mother, but you still need the permission of anyone else with parental responsibility before you take the child abroad."

It then says the following "A letter from the person with parental responsibility for the child is usually enough to show you’ve got permission to take them abroad."

The question is "does the letter signed by the husband need to be attested to by a notary?". The web page does not mention this.

We can't find a gov.uk email to write to in order to clarify this, but if anyone has the email, that would be useful.
Thanks for any guidance on this.

jpsartre · 19 March 2019 at 11:34AM

Ny wife and I fly within Europe individually with our son all the time and we have never been asked anything. In fact I'm taking him on a trip tomorrow.

bradders1983 · 19 March 2019 at 11:36AM

You all share the same surname, so I really cant see why it would be an issue.

yellowmug · 19 March 2019 at 11:40AM

You don't need anyone's consent to take your child abroad, and if you have the same surname no-one will bat an eyelid.

Heliflyguy · 19 March 2019 at 12:39PM

As it's Europe just a signed letter will suffice and the child's birth certificate.

For the sake of a couple of pieces of paper and to cover ones backside why not.
Good job your not travelling to South Africa

Equality eh.....

steve1500 · 19 March 2019 at 2:13PM

the only thing we used to get for our granddaughter was a letter signed by her mother saying we could take whatever action we deemed appropriate for her welfare.

That was for both the US & EU

At the time she was to you young to giver her consent for the likes of medical treatment

[Deleted User] · 20 March 2019 at 10:02AM

Thanks for all the replies.

As the gov.uk web page does state "You automatically have parental responsibility if you’re the child’s mother, but you still need the permission of anyone else with parental responsibility before you take the child abroad." it seems silly to not get this permission.
As Heliflyguy says, it's a couple of bits of paper.

So the mother will take a letter from the husband (as the gov.uk web site states), plus the other documentation suggested.
Still not sure if the letter needs to be notarised (as was the case for South Africa), and can't find an email or phone number for the gov.uk team to ask them. However, from what steve1500 says, it just needs to be signed by the parent.

Thanks again for your help

peachyprice · 20 March 2019 at 3:46PM

No, you don't have to have it notorised (except for South Africa) which makes the whole thing a joke.

Anyone can write a letter saying they are the parent, you don't even have to provide a copy of a passport/driving licence etc to prove the person signed it, it's ridiculous, if they're going to implement a system at least make it worthwhile.

peachyprice · 20 March 2019 at 3:47PM

yellowmug wrote: »

You don't need anyone's consent to take your child abroad, and if you have the same surname no-one will bat an eyelid.

Whilst anyone rarely bats an eyelid, either with or without the same surname there is actually a half-arsed system in place.

yellowmug · 21 March 2019 at 10:47AM

There's a system in place where parents aren't married/aren't together, but in straightforward situations where mother and father both have automatic parental responsibility and there are no special court-mandated arrangements in place, one parent doesn't need permission from the other to take children out of the country.

NoodleDoodleMan · 21 March 2019 at 6:14PM

I'm old enough to remember when a woman could not travel without her husband if they had a joint passport, although he could alone, with or without kids.

Any children were added to the passport with name, gender and date of birth only if memory serves, certainly no photos.

Taking child on holiday with husband's consent - does letter need to be notarised?

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