Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Mt wife has left me with my 2yo child (a great little boy) I want him back desperately. she will not let me have face to face contact with him and has only now (5 days after she left) made contact with me and has told me to expect a letter from her solicitor. This has come completely out of the blue for me. I am now trying to get a solicitor.
but in the mean time if i can find where they are will it affect my rights if i go and get my son back and bring him home without my wife’s consent?
I have a feeling she is really going try and stuff me
no leagle papers have been served yet but i am expecting divorce papers from her any day now
Hi patman
Firstly welcome to dadtalk
I have sent a link to your thread to our legal experts over at the Children's Legal Centre, it may take a few days to respond do please do hang in there
Cheers
As far as I am aware (but get proper legal advice) - you have as much right to have your son live with you as your wife has with her. This means that you could take your son back, BUT it's going to make the situation very bad unless you have a good reason for him not living with her. You need proper legal advice and you need it quickly - if you are going to try to get custody of your son, then the more settled he is with your wife, the more reluctant the courts will be to move him.
The Children's Legal Centre on here have posted a phone number (Child Law Advice Line on 0808 8020 008) on various threads - I'd give them a ring straight away.
Dear Patman,
Thank you for contacting the Children’s Legal Centre, an independent charity concerned with law and policy affecting children and young people.
From a strictly legal point of view, you are able to take your son and keep him with you, as both you and the mother have Parental Responsibility because you were married, however you should consider whether this would be the best option for your child.
Should you choose to do this, your wife can remove him from you, and you have the ability to take him back and this can lead to a very unsettling environment for your son and is never advisable, and this type of behaviour may be viewed negatively in court.
In these situations, the police can often become involved if there is a conflict or the situation becomes heated, and this will also be considered in court, as will the impact that these conflicts will have on your son.
Either you or your wife is able to apply for a residence order for your son at any time. This is a legally binding court order stating with who the child is to live.
To make an application for a residence order, you can instruct a solicitor to act for you (on a legal aid basis if you are eligible) or you are able to represent yourself in court.
If you choose to represent yourself the forms you require are the C100, CB1 and CB3 and these can be downloaded from www.hmcs.gov.uk . There will be a filing fee of £175. There is further information on acting for yourself (called acting as a Litigant in Person) on www.elc.org.uk under the law and UK court system section.
The matter will go to court and the court will hear all the circumstances and facts of the case and make a decision as to whether you or the mother should be granted residence or whether a shared residence order is appropriate based on what is believed to be in the child’s best interests.
Any court order is legally binding and can not be altered without either the consent of both parties, or the court amending the order. A court order is enforceable.
We hope that this information is useful to you. Should you require further legal advice please contact our Child Law Advice Line on 0808 8020 008 and an advisor will be happy to help.
Kind Regards
Children’s Legal Centre
Its evil what some people do, and the law really needs to be stronger.
I have a son and he was taken away from me only 3 days from birth.
This should be class as arming your child or stronger,
Sorry just angry at the moment with the some mothers.
Chris
It is a problem, but unfortunately, it's one of those areas where the law could never do the job properly. Ultimately, what can the law do - lock the mother up if she fails to give access, especially if there is no contact order? The problem there is that the court would never (or extremely rarely) consider that such a penalty was in the childs best interests. Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning the actions of parents who do this, but you can see why mediation is always the best way if it's possible.
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.