If your ex partner is planning to relocate abroad with your children, you should understand your legal position by using our free Moving Away Rights Checker.
Thankfully most couples who separate are able to agree arrangements for their children between them, without the need for the help of solicitors, mediators or the court. Shared arrangements are becoming increasingly common, where the children spend similar amounts of time with their mother and father. Obviously this requires an element of cooperation between the parents and usually a close geographical proximity for it to work. The further apart the parents live the harder it is to make sure that the children have a full relationship with both parents, which is in their best interests in the vast majority of cases. This is particularly difficult to achieve if one of the parents decides that they would like to move to another country with the children. Given how easy it is to move within the EU, this is happening more and more. If this happens it is important that you know your legal position.
Do you have parental responsibility?
The first thing you must consider is do you have parental responsibility for your child? This allows you to have a say in the important decisions in your child's life, such as consenting to medical treatment, and more importantly, as in this case, a say in whether your child can move abroad permanently with your ex. As the law stands at present, all mothers automatically have parental responsibility for their child as soon as they are born. All father's married to the mother of their child also automatically have parental responsibility. Unmarried fathers whose child was born before 1st December 2003 do not have parental responsibility for their child unless it is formally granted by the court or a formal agreement is entered into with the child's mother in a prescribed form. Thankfully the law was changed in 2003, to take into account the fact that many unmarried couples now have children, and any father named on the birth certificate of a child born on or after 1st December 2003 automatically has parental responsibility for that child. If you are not named on your child's birth certificate as the father, you can obtain parental responsibility with the agreement of your child's mother or through the court.
If you have parental responsibility and your ex wants to take the child to live abroad, your ex needs your permission. If you are agreeable to this, it is always recommended that you obtain a court order confirming your agreement and also detailing your contact with the child once the child moves abroad. Once the English court order has been made, a "mirror" order should be obtained from a court in the EU country that the child is moving to, as once the child moves abroad, any issues regarding the child would be dealt with by a court in the country where the child lives and not by an English court. You will need a lawyer in the country that your child is moving to, to deal with this. Although this can be expensive and time consuming, if your ex later reneges on the agreement you will find it much easier to deal with this issue in the foreign court as there will be a formal record of the arrangements that were agreed.
Check what legal rights you have as a separated father. Takes 2 minutes.
Try our Father's Rights Checker free, here on this site →What if you do not agree?
If you do not agree to your child moving abroad, your ex will need to apply to court and ask the court to make an order agreeing to her request. Every case of this nature is fact specific, so it is important that you obtain specialist legal advice so that you present your case in the best possible light to the judge. If the judge does agree to the child moving abroad, they will usually insist that the court order include details of the time that the child will spend with you. You will then be advised to obtain a "mirror" order in the country that the child is moving to.
If your ex takes the child abroad permanently without your consent, this is technically parental child abduction and there are international legal agreements between Britain and the other EU countries, which would hopefully facilitate the return of the child to this country. If this happens you must contact a specialist lawyer immediately as it is important that an application is made to court as soon as possible for the child's return. Once the child has been returned, the English court will have to decide if it is appropriate for the child to move abroad permanently with your ex.
If you are separated from your child's mother, there will inevitably be many issues that arise regarding your child. Hopefully you will be able to deal with these between you, but if not it is important that you obtain the advice of a specialist family lawyer, which will then enable you to consider the best way forward for you and your child.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
About the Author
This was a guest blog written by Fiona Wood, Family Law partner at specialist divorce solicitors, Pannone Law Group.
I don’t particularly want to spend time with her as I find her annoying but she says she won’t let me see the baby without her around.
She’s giving me a choice now: either withdraw all involvement or committ to spending a week per month with her and commit to not showing any other partner the baby . I am not sure she’s trying to manipulate me to not have another partner . Or if what she’s asking is reasonable? What do you think ?
Now she changed her mind, she is saying she don't have intention to come back.
So what I need to do to get my son back she went to EU countrys, my son born in UK, I have his birth Certificate.
Thank you
K
Thanks for the help!
So the 2 people that want to move away do not agree with the 3rd person, do they still have to go to court.
Does my daughter-in-law has the legal right to stop her husband from bringing their son to visit me?
P.s: i have a paper for 5 years to travel with my son between portugal and uk
He has brithis passport and he is from Irak . Haw can i ban him never go with the child in Irak because i know he will not gone bring back, he try to be nice with me till he take it in there or convince me to go together to visiting his family.
I been in there and i never want to come back because a very bad experience, he try in that time to push me to make id for our son in there but illegal ( because we are married) he try to explain to me we need to pass the son in his brother name and sister in low because they are married.
Can you believe?
I get shock!
I did not accepted and i was thinking never i gone go back from there when i realised what kind of person he is .
I report him 2 times to police for violence and physical abuse and i did not go on with the court thinking is gone change but there is not change i believe .
Thank you in advance!
Out my sons permission, her mother is very controlling, what can he do to stop this happening.
Ask Separated Dads a question
Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.
You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.
Comments are moderated before publication.