Legal Eagle: Seeking consent from a former partner to take children abroad
My partner and I separated three years ago, he has occasional contact with the children since we separated. I want to take the children on holiday this year, do I need to get his consent before travelling abroad?
Whether you can take your child on holiday without their father’s consent depends primarily on who has parental responsibility and whether there are any court orders in place which restrict or permit travel.
Parental responsibility (PR) means the legal rights, duties and authority that a parent has for a child. A child’s mother automatically has PR for her child, a father has PR if he is married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth, is named on the birth certificate or has obtained PR through a court order.
If both parents have parental responsibility, then the norm would be that both parents must consent to the children being taken out of the UK for any reason, even for a short period of time. Taking a child out of the UK without the consent of a person who has Parental Responsibility may be considered as child abduction.
The exception to this would be if there is a Child Arrangement Order (CAO) in place, stating that the child “lives with” you. In you have such an order, you are legally allowed to take the child out of the UK for up to 28 days without the other parents’ consent. We would still recommend that the other parent is kept informed of any plans to avoid disputes arising.
If there is a Prohibited Steps Order or other court restriction preventing your child from leaving the UK, then this must be adhered to regardless of Parental Responsibility status.
If there is no Child Arrangement Order and the father has PR, then you should obtain written consent before travelling. If consent is withheld and there is no reasonable reason for doing so, you can apply to the family court for a Specific Issue Order allowing the holiday to go ahead.
Courts will generally support holidays where they are safe, reasonable and in the child’s best interest.
If you would like to make an appointment at one of our offices to discuss this matter further, then please do not hesitate to contact us on 0191 565 3112 or via email at [email protected]