alilane

Hi.. I know somewhere there was a thread about this and sorry to start a new one but I couldn't find it

anyway .. am getting things sorted to join OH in Vancouver. I have a 13yr old son that is not his. Now my son's father is named on birth certificate but was never granted any parental rights etc by any court.. he's rarely been any part of his life and certainly not for the last 6 yrs has had any contact with him (tho this may be to do with the fact that I moved away!) It was enough of a struggle to get him to accept my son was his!!

Now I saw somewhere that if my son's father has never really played any part in his life and has never had any access or rights granted then I would not need his consent to take my son out of the UK. Is this the case and if so does it have to go through any lawyers/ Problem is I'm not even 100% certain where his father is now....

Tanah

Im sure someone more knowledgable willbe along - i think mandymoochops had similar issue with kids etc but im not certain. As far as I remember reading on posts on here even though he has no rights or has had limited access you still need his permission. I know some people on here have had a total nightmare with this sort of stuff and trying to track down ex's - or ex's deciding to be a pain in the butt about it.... but i could be wrong, ( sorry i wasnt much help really was i )

JAJ

Definitely not recommended to contact an absent parent, that could be the route to all kinds of problems.

Get an official letter or document from the family court saying that no parental responsibility is held by anyone else and there is is no legal impediment to remove from jurisdiction. Canada ought to accept that, if they don't, then they are in breach of their international treaty obligations.

lancashirebird

What we did was contact a solicitor and they sent a letter, i spoke with his parents and advised that if he didnt sign i would take for missed child payments, as he never paid and i brought my daughter up
The letter was signed and sent back, with the letter from the solicitor it has been accepted, so it is worth making the effert........
i know it is a hard time, but if you have ticked all the boes then you will be fine, my husband even went via family court and got parental consent as well.
the fulls in canada are so different than in the uk, its not worth fighting, just do it as i was once said.

We backed up with solicitor as i heard someone do it alone and had to have it re-done, so i made sure i dotted everything before we left.
if you need any advise feel free to PM me

LB

JAJ

That is easier said than done in some cases. If you have full legal rights from the court it really is not a good idea to go asking for permission that is not needed.

lancashirebird

But as the OP advised she has full parental consent, he hasnt paid, so why refuse............if he refuses he doesnt gain anything
Without the forms it would be interesting, we go off personal cases here, we put ours in, no probs, i know someone who has not and they are having hassle.........
Canadian laws are so different to the uk ones, shame really, but who are we to argue, we are going through the immagration process, its hard enough
if we can make it just that little bit more plain sailing is that not better

JAJ

Because some people will refuse just out of spite. Or go back to court to try to reopen the custody issue, make allegations, etc.



Which laws are these? Canada has signed treaties obliging it to respect the laws of other countries, and I would be very interested to know which Canadian statute overrides this.

Just because an official demands something does not make it legal - that's what good lawyers are there to deal with.

There seems to be a special problem with Canada in dealing with child custody issues, a strong reluctance in some cases to abide by Canada's treaty commitments. Whether through inability to understand the issues, or just obstructionism.

I don't know why this is. Australia and New Zealand don't have a problem respecting other countries laws, why it's so challenging for Canada is unclear.

lancashirebird

Whilst i see your point, i will not be the first one to challenge this, the immagration is hard enough and if it saves people 5k on immagration costs then it can be worth it

For me and many others that i have spoke to, it was well worth the 25quid to the local solicitor to get this done.
Plus the parental consent that i gave my husband cost me nothing.

As the uk law clearly states that i am the only one with parental consent, i was able to do this without the bio father allowing it.
As the OP has the father on the birth certificate i would advise her to make sure she backs herself if she is not using a lawyer
Why not get it done whilst in the country

I wish canada would take uk law in, but who are we to argue

Piff Poff

I went to a local solicitor here and we did up a statement of fact - stating why he hadn't seen daughter, how long he hadn't seen daughter, the lack of child support payments and the biggy - the fact that as we were not married and the fact that the law at the time of her birth meant that he was not automatically granted legal responsibility and the fact that he never attempted to get any legal responsibility. It didn't cost very much and the statement was sufficient for us.

Good luck I know it's one huge stressor.

alilane

thanks all for the points of view... seems the best thing is to get some form of legal letter drawn up rather than try to find him. he probably wont put up a fight but the way my luck has always been he would decide he needed to bond with his son!!!

I'm not sure if I would have ben challenged when I landed about this and the temptation would have been just to take him anyway but I can't be doing with any more hassle than I've experienced so far. I am so stressed (OH already over in Vancouver so I'm missing him like mad, still not sold house!!) that if I can sort 1 less thing to worry about then it would be £25-£30 or whatever well spent!

Piff Poff

The CIC actually requested a legal letter from me for my situation for PR.