mumstheword

18th is final hearing. maintenance arrears very difficult to enforce when he lives in USA. have done all the cafcass stuff, including having a 9.5 guardian appointed. have been fighting throughout but so far I have a 6000 pounds legal bill and an embargo on my legal aid because he keeps having me investigated. I have just spent 3.5 hrs with a cafcass manager who is investigating my formal complaint on how cafcass have behaved and I am just about spent. Will try to find more energy tomorrow but there is only so much I can do.... will certainly go after him on the way he is proposing to get my son into US though as that looks completely wrong and will go against him.

Rete

Please .... just because an attorney said it was legal does not mean it is correct. In fact the attorney did not say it was legal but just said that this was what they were going to do.

And I don't think it was an immigration attorney who wrote the letter for the xhusband.

Rete

On what you have just posted, I will tell you that if your ex-husband gets your son to the US by court order giving him sole physical custody, then when your ex-husband becomes a USC (if he naturalizes which he apparently will be able to do soon if he got his green card 4 years ago or more???) then when your son gets his permanent residency (green card) your son will legally be a US Citizen and your rights and the court order in the UK means absolutely nothing.

Rete

He would not be able to get his sisters here at the same time as his mother though because they will not be considered "immediate relatives" and the wait for a current visa number would be 5 to 7 years.

clarissageo

Also, when I went through this process, my Lawyer explained to me that the court order regarding contact that was created in the UK, would take ALOT of enforcing in the US, unless a mirror order was obtained. The whole point of a Leave to remove Jurisdiction order is that you are leaving the area over which the court has Jurisdiction. Whatever is decided make sure you insist on a Mirror order also. I'm not sure if that would still apply if the son did become a USC though.

clarissageo

If the other siblings have the same father as the son (which it appears they do), when the father becomes a US citizen, how would it affect his other children?

Tracym

If you read through the thread, you might notice earlier in the thread - that letter came from a highly respected immigration law firm.

Why... I don't know.

Rete

It will have no effect whatsoever. In order for the children to become US citizens, they first have to have US Permanent Residency. That is why I said if the 14 year old goes to the US, stepmom files for his PR and he does get a green card that when daddy becomes a US citizen, the 14 year old automatically becomes a USC because he has PR status. All the kid would need to do is apply for his US passport and send daddy's US Naturalization Certificate. The others are SOL.

Wonder why he is so set on getting this one son over and not all of them? He apparently, like my ex, doesn't give a crap what goes on with the kids other than an occasional message and/or visit.

Would the courts automatically grant the father custodial rights and deny the mother physical custody just because the father has money and petitions for said custody? Seems so unjust for such a forward thinking country.

clarissageo

I can't understand how the case has got as far as it has, with so little thought apparantly being put into it by daddy dearest.

When we applied for leave to remove we had to prepare a full pack of information showing accomodation, healthcare arrangements, location of hospitals and doctors, schooling arrangements along with reports and prospectus from the schools and confirmation that they can attend, information on the visa and what restrictions may or may not apply to it, proposed contact arrangements and how it would be funded.

My husband was also interviewed by Cafcass, both children, and we even got a character reference from my husbands ex wife. My ex got a copy of that pack, along with the court and cafcass.

I think the fact that the father has blatent plans to defraud the immigration authorities could possibly be the saving grace for the OP. By printing off the rules and regulations of the VWP and showing what a serious thing the father is thinking of doing, and then showing that she is willing to let him go if he wishes once the immigration is done properly really would show her to the judge to be reasonable and looking out for her sons best interests.

Its a shame really that the child support that this person should have been paying towards all THREE of his children is now being used to fund the destruction of a family unit which is settled. No wonder he has so much money.

Sorry for the rant....... I know we only know one side of the story but I tend to go off like a bottle of pop when the scales appear to be so unfairly balanced.

mumstheword

HI - can anyone advise me. I was thinking of sending a copy of the letter from the NY attorney with what looks like illegal advice to the immigration service. Where should I send it? To the US embassy in London? Does anyone know? I could do with something official to argue against my ex's letter from attorney, stating that this is in fact illegal. I realise that I can print info off the internet but the judge may want something more official looking if you know what I mean. I have emailed the US embassy but don't know when they will get back to me.

mumstheword

Thanks very much for that - that looks excellent. i wasn't aware of that and will be looking into that staright away. There is undeed a court order and several judges have advised me to take out enforcement but because of not having legal aid, I thought that I could not do that. This link enables me to take out enforcement procedures myself which would be brill - he owes over 20,000 pounds!!

mumstheword

Oops sorrry - that was aimed at - Originally Posted by clarissageo
Mum, if you have a court order or CSA order for that child support, take a look at this http://www.officialsolicitor.gov.uk/os/remo.htm

Tracym

You might be able to get a US based immigration attorney to write you an opinion on the letter, and the legality of the proposed method of immigration.

Or... perhaps not give them the actual letter, since they may dislike going against another attorney. You could just give them the text and say this is what your husband says he is going to do - is it legal?

I wouldn't think it would cost a lot to get an attorney to do that.

mumstheword

Are you celebrating Thanksgiving? What you do replying to my boring story on your holiday??!!! But seriously, thanks, thats a good idea

clarissageo

Glad it helps - on a second look, it isnt the CSA they will do it for, but for the court ordered child support only, however, if you do have a CSA order you can go to the court and explain what you want to do and get them to make an order that you can then use the REMO system to enforce.

£20k - no wonder he can afford a barrister.

Also, Check that letter form the attorney - if it says 'without predjudice' at the top, You cannot use it as evidence, only your ex - so you would have to wait for him to present it, and then present your opposing evidence. If it doesnt say without predjudice, you can bring it to the judges attention.

I'm suprised this super duper expensive barrister hasn't checked his own facts on the case before taking it on.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when your ex finds out you can claim the child support from him - damn, if the US child support people get a hold of him and he messes them around, his life will certainly change!