Wessa

We get on fine with her father, he has already said if the move will improve her qaulity of life then he is fine with her going. So, when applying on a eoi, ita etc will i need to get his permission in writing etc? Is this going to be a problem or slow the process down do you guys think?

Cram

Im going through this myself ( me being the evil step father ). The biological father was apparently fine with it but never did do what he said he was going to do so looks like im having to go through the courts.The child in question is 16 in March

If he really does not have a problem with it he needs to do a statutory declaration stating him being the biological father gives his permision for the childs mother to take the child out of the UK

from my case officer -
A Statutory declaration from the Biological father signed and witnessed by a solicitor, stating that he gives permission for the child to be removed from the United Kingdom to live permanently in New Zealand with his/her biological mother, or;

A court order permitting the applicant to remove the child from its country of residence

hope this helps

Wessa

Sorry to hear ya having trouble Cram, would you know if this declaration form is from the solicitor or is it an official NZ form?

Cram

Hi Wessa

Its done at the solicitors and should not cost to much apparently i have mine sorted now and should receive it sometime soon so when i do ill type it up on here to give you an example.

Divine Comedy

Hiya, we had the same thing. We just went to a solictor and got him to draw up a letter for the biological father to sign. We then sent this off with all the other ITA stuff and there wasnt a problem. All the best.

Wessa

Thanks guys.

Rustie

It also depends on whether or not the parents were married at the time and whether you had a court agreement for access. I can see if i can dig out the legislation bit if you want?

Wessa

It looks like he is having second thoughts. Understandably its a hard decission for him, i know he is a common sense type of bloke and can see that she will have a better quality of life but he will "miss her".

Divine Comedy

We had a wobbly time too, it is hard.... but our solicitors drew up an agreement and we worked it out. You have to do lots of talking and keep comunicating throughout the whole process. If she is old enough to understand and wants the move also, she needs to talk to her Dad about it too, hearing it from her will be the strongest argument for going you have got. It is very easy to start getting into a slanging match about it all, and in our case a good argument cleared up alot of underlying grievances. But keeping it all amicably will be better on your step daughter as she will feel like she is caught in the middle.
.As above post .. it does depend if the parents were married on how much clout the father has, but ONLY if it comes to court. [Im sure noone wants that] Otherwise it is ALL about getting that legal confirmation to send off with the ITA .
Good luck.