alkristensen

My friends fiance has legal custody of her child from a previous relationship, and they want to move to oz.
The girls dad does not pay, and has never paid any maintanence and des not see her, and she is 9 yrs old,but (her grandma)his mum sees her oftenish.

does she have legal right to take her daughter to oz, or does she need some stat dec or something off her ex to say he is happy with it?

thanks for any responses

al

Siren & Brian

She still needs the stat dec from the ex allowing her to bring the child to another country to live. Failing that, a court order will work as well but it's not pleasant (trust me...)

If you need more detailed information, feel free to PM me. I too, came to Australia on a fiances visa and needed permission for my kids from a previous marriage.

Siren

AlmostBob

she needs the stat dec or an order from the courts stating she has sole
right to determine country of residence.
I have just finished fighting a Hague Convention on International Child
Abduction hearing in the supreme courts of Nova Scotia Canada and Victoria
Australia. The things that the convention allows the non-custodial parent to
do, are obscene in the amount of bias against the custodial parent.

The child remained with the custodial parent fortunately but it was not
pleasant

Hope for the best
Plan for the worst
a sworn agreement or court order cannot be contested later

--
_
"alkristensen" <member25602@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
    > My friends fiance has legal custody of her child from a previous
    > relationship, and they want to move to oz.
    > The girls dad does not pay, and has never paid any maintanence and
    > des not see her, and she is 9 yrs old,but (her grandma)his mum sees
    > her oftenish.
    > does she have legal right to take her daughter to oz, or does she need
    > some stat dec or something off her ex to say he is happy with it?
    > thanks for any responses
    > al
    > --
    > ungawa
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

alkristensen

thanks

her ex lives in durham and she lives in manchester now soshe rarely goes to grans now.

ill pm you
alk

Mandyisere

I came to Oz with my kids, they had no contact with their father and he didn't pay maintenance, has i didn't know where he was i got a court order to bring them.
Mandy

alkristensen

do you think it would make it asier if my friend adopt the child and changes it to his name as well as his missuses too.

What im trying to say is whats the best/easiest plan of action.

alk

snowbunny

That might really antagonise the father.... and the grandmother who might kick the father into protesting.

NO, it won't make it easier. Get the court order allowing the child to be removed from the UK. One step at a time.

alkristensen

great thanks.
I thankfully dont have kids yet, and we are waiting til we get to oz, but this is a best ate/work collegue, and his mum and sis are there and would hate for him not to be able to get in due to british red tape.

cheers

al

snowbunny

It's not British red tape. In fact, be grateful it's an English divorce/custody arrangement because in many parts of the world, no matter how crap the father was, your mate's wife would NOT be able to remove the child from the country period without his express consent and even then the court could order the child to stay.

All parents have rights and unless they are found to be abusive or extremely neglectful to the point of abuse, those rights are not terminated. The courts go with the status quo on these cases, which is to keep the child in the country of birth.

Does the gran know about the emigration yet? If not, your mate may be in for an unexpected fight. She can't fight it, but she can get her son to do it.

alkristensen

she has full custody, and he never pays or sees or wants anything to do wih her.
The gran doesnt know, but they will tel hr that she will see her gran more if she is in oz as they will fly back twice a year, and the gran prob sees her once a yer now, and failing that , they will move to bude in cornwall to get as far away as possible from the gran so that she has no rights to make it difficult as poss in same contry. Itll be up to her more than the natural father, as i dont think he gives a sh*t.

We will see.
thanks
al

flapsterhp

We had a problem with my stepsons dad. My partner has sole custody of my stepson but because she had no court order to proove this we were involved in a 12 month solicitor and court fiasco that was a nightmare. His dad didn't want him to move to Australia so wouldn't sign an agreement for us to take him, went to court, the court ordered a welfare officer to do a report, that involved interviewing parents, grandparents, a nightmare. The beauty of it all is that his dad doesn't even live in the U.K. We got the court order eventually but my advice is don't make things difficult, go out of your way to be helpfull and cooperative, in the eyes of the court it really helps.

Andy

Carruss

Adoption would not make any difference to start with as the father would have to be contacted anyway to approve to the adoption.

R.

JAJ

It's essential to be very clear by what you mean by "legal custody".

Does this include a right under the law to remove the child permanently from the jurisdiction? Either stated in the custody documents, or stated as a principle of the law in the country concerned.

If they were never married this may also affect what parental rights the ex has.

Every case in this area is different and it's essential to focus on precise application of the law to the facts.

Jeremy