We've literally just arrived here in Canada this weekend with my three daughters from my first marriage. The oldest two are over 18 but we needed my ex-wife's permission for my 14 year old to move with us. We asked early on in our plans and she was very against the idea so we didn't push it but instead kept an open mind. I raised the issue several months later and she was more open to it and finally she was all for it having gotton used to the idea. Personally I'd never have gone to court because I wouldn't have wanted my daughter to have to deal with that situation. We were fortunate in that time and paitence resolved our situation.

Not always the case as you well know, Stephen
I myself had no luck in convincing my ex that I was making a decision with my children's best interests at heart. He was very angry and stayed that way for well over 2 years.
In the end I had to go to court to get the order permitting me to bring the children with me.

I can't speak for UK law but in Canada, they really do assess what is best for the children... not the parents. It was a long road but every day, I look at my kids and how happy they are in their new home, and I am grateful that we were allowed to move. I know that, even with their father nearby, none of us were really happy and my kids were suffering.

Here is a link to a similar thread on the Aussie site... don't mind the troll
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ht=court+order
It might give you some insight into your options...

Best of luck and feel free to PM.

Siren

I'm so glad to hear that this approach worked for you. I hope it does for us.
We are going to try and discuss it with the ex and be completely honest about our plans and try and keep solicitors letters to a minimum.
I think his initial reaction will be that we are doing it to mess him around. I'm hoping that he realises that this isn't the case when we point out that if we wanted to we could easily move to Scotland and be a 12 hour drive away and he couldn't stop us.
We bringing the girls out over the New Year and hoping that they will like Canada and this will help.
If the Ex knows they are happy, he might be too.