Dreams of Oz

Hello everyone
Just wondered if anyone had gone through this.

I have a 17 year old daughter from a previous marriage.She hasnt seen her Dad since she was about 9 apart from when i ve taken her to deliver Xmas cards etc.
I have just completed my Skills Assessment and have begun the visa application.
I have a "guardianship order" where i was granted full custody of my daughter and i thought (reading through the visa stuff) that this would be ok.My migration agent has told me today that it is not enough and that i will need either written consent from her Dad ( not likley!) or a court order allowing me to take her from the country.

Has anyone else been through this and if so , what was the outcome and how much did it cost!?

In theory it sounds like he could actually prevent us from going - which is mad as he wouldnt really know if we went or didnt - we never see him.

My daughter herself cant believe it - she says she could be married now with kids and it would be nothing to do with him (thank God shes not!).

Any replies greatfully received.

andrew63

Sorry to say your agent is right having been through that myself.
Took me 12 months and £10k and my ex fought me all the way but was destined to lose from day one - good old legal aid system.
Not only did I have a guardianship order but I also had a Court Order saying I could take my daughter to live outside of the UK. My agent thought that would be OK but DIMIA thought otherwise and insisted that the Court Order mentioned Australia.
I would suggest waiting untils she's 18 but I think then other issues arise as she may not be classed as dependent but I am not sure about that side of things.
Try the Immigration forum too!
Sorry if it's not news you want.

If your ex works he won't get legal aid and may not want the expensive legal battle if he's on a dead cert loss.

Good luck.

Andrew

Siren & Brian

Went through the same thing but the father did have some contact with the kids, but was and still is a dead beat dad. Went to court and from day 1 judge knew what was best for the kids.

DIMIA want to see on the unconditional rights to be able to move to Australia on the papers from either court or the written permission from him.

I am guessing that he hasn't paid child support for your daughter, so I reckon tell him to sign the papers or you will go after back payments and she still leaves when she is 18.


Will do a search and see if can find old threads about this.

Dreams of Oz

Thanks guys for your replies - although they were not really what i wanted to hear.
I have a solicitors appointment next tuesday to discuss this - i ll keep you all posted.

geordiekaz

Hi,
We are going through a court case at the moment, we asked my ex to sign a consent form and had to give him 28 days to reply, he refused so we are now going through the courts to let them decide. It can take up to 6 months as statements and reports have to be completed and court dates arranged.
We have been given an estimate of £10,000!!!
My advice to you would be go and see a solicitor and try to persuade your ex to sign the consent form.......much cheaper!!!
Good luck|_

bubblegum_babe

Ok now I’m confused - I have three court orders for my son

The first from 1995 that gives his father contact and parental responsibility and the second from 2001 taking the parental responsibility away from his father.

The third court order issued at the same time as the second changes my sons surname from X to Y (by order of the court not dipole)

I thought that this was all I needed – to prove the father has no PR rights over my son which the second court order does

So will I need to get a court order or consent form?

Sorry for hijacking the thread

geordiekaz

Your first step is to contact your ex to sign a consent form which a solicitor will draw up for you, if doesn't sign it or refuses to give consent then you will have to go to court to apply to take the children out of the jurisdiction of the UK. Your ex will be informed of court proceedings and he can oppose the court order, and thats when it starts getting costly and takes time.
Best thing to do is go and see a solicitor as everyone's circumstances are always slightly different.

Australia_bound?

Would personally recommend anyone to look into adopting their kids when other parents has vanished and to plan early. We've got ours done and dusted cost very little (no need to get solicitors involved as done via social services) and a fairly easy process as other parent couldn't be traced. Would have done it anyway if not going to Australia but we now don't need to think about this issue.
Good luck in sorting out your problem

Dreams of Oz

Hello to you

All i can say in response is that my agent has told me that a custody order would only be accepted by DIMIA if it denied the father any access at all and that is rare.You may be ok if the order actually says that the father has no parental responsibility at all.
She told me that all you have to do is apply to the Court which made the original orders and ask for an order to enable you to remove the child from the UK.She said from experience this is usually granted without fuss . in a few weeks and costs around £130 !
Not from what people are saying on here it doesn t !
I guess it depends how decent your ex is - which in most cases is not very or else they wouldn t be your ex would they?!
The real bug bear for me is that my daughter is 17 !
We may look into waiting til she is 18 and see what our options are then.
Don t know if i ve been any help to you at all but good luck from me.

bubblegum_babe

The first court order says “The court orders that X shall have parental responsibility for the child”

The second one says “The parental responsibility order granted on the 19th September 1995 in favour of X be terminated”

I'm going to phone my solicitor on Monday morning and email the DIMIA because I’m a little worried now. I spent 6 long years getting the original PR order terminated

The whole court case and the paperwork is very complicated due to the fact PR orders rarely get overturned but my solicitor says she'll write me a cover letter to explain it all (for free!) if I need her to so looks like i'll be taking up her offer

gjs

we were in a similar situation:my daughter was 17 at the time we submitted our visa,however she was born in Scotland and under Scottish law,childern of 16 years are able to make their own decisions as it were.She made a sworn declaration and that was it.We did not even have to contact her natural father.Lucky us,I know.DIMIA did not question it which did surprise us at the time.This probably doesn't help you, ut might help anyone with Scottish born children.Fingers crossed for you,Good Luck!

cranni

OMG, it sounds just like our situation.
MY Daughter was also 17, and had seen her sperm donor [as she calls him] since she was about 10, when we asked permission from him , he said "NO" although he did not want to see her.
We approached his brothers, who talked to him, in the end he agreed, but it was too late, we had to get our application in because of our ages.
So we came first, i was devasted leaving her, 6 months later she came over on a student visa, she did not work and was totally dependant on us, and i got her resindency. She is now 20 and on a tour of OZ. Lucky thing.
Could she write him a letter, and explain she will go with or without his permission. Wishing you the best of luck.
Denise x sending you karma

Dreams of Oz

Oh Denise you ve just made me cry!In fact i m still crying!
The fact that you cared enough to send me some karma just upset me.I think my emotions are all over the place worrrying about all this.Its such a strange process dont you think?
We are really in no rush time wise so im wondering if we wait til shes 18(next june) whether that may be our best option.The rest of us (hubby and 9 year old son)may apply and all of us go over to validate next easter as planned then just apply to have our daughter added when shes 18.What do you think?Does that sound possible or not.We may still be in the UK ourselves then - would that matter or would we have to be in Oz?
God im so confused.But at least ive stopped crying now!
Bless you.

Dreams of Oz

I think you will be ok to be honest as your court order actually states parental responsibility is terminated.
Maybe you should just check with the solicitor just to be on the safe side then you dont get a shock such as ive just had!
My agent did say that it is very rare that parental responsibility is removed totally but it sounds like you re in the minority to me.Lucky you!
I dont mean that flippantly because i know you will have had to go through hell to get there so dont take that the wrong way.I just think you re going to be ok.Good luck to you and i hope it all works out.

killamarsh

[QUOTE=bubblegum_babe]Ok now I’m confused - I have three court orders for my son

I too am starting the joy of this process.
No matter what is said on here you must get legal advise. Why not use the free consultation many solictors offer to find out a bit more.