Q: I want to take my children on a foreign holiday this summer with my new wife, but their mother is refusing to agree to it. She has their passports and says she will not hand them over to me. The children, who are now teenagers, want to come on holiday with me and my daughter has suggested they could take the passports without their mum knowing. However, I don’t want to encourage them to be deceitful? What should I do?
A: Even if your children usually live with their mother, it is likely that you and their mother have shared parental responsibility. Parental responsibility is the legal rights, responsibilities and authority a parent has for a child. Shared parental responsibility means that both parents must consult, agree and consent over major decisions such as medical care, schooling and foreign travel.
Either parent could take a child abroad on holiday without the other’s permission if they have a “lives with” child arrangements order or if a child arrangements order specifies for foreign travel arrangements. If you had a “lives with” child arrangements order, you could take the child abroad providing this does not exceed 28 days and subject to this not encroaching on other ordered arrangements.
Without such an order you should not take a child out of the UK without the consent of everybody with parental responsibility. So even if you had their passports, in the absence of the above consent would be required.
If you cannot get written consent from the children’s mother for the holiday, you will need to apply to the court for permission to travel with the children. As the courts always put a child’s interests at the forefront of any decision, be prepared to show that the travel is in your children’s best interests and will not affect the other parent’s rights. A family solicitor can advise and help you with this.
This question has been answered by Lucy Vaughan, a Solicitor with GHP Legal. If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter, please visit our website www.ghplegal.com and use the contact us form, or call us on: Wrexham 01978 291456, Llangollen 01978 860313, Oswestry 01691 659194
