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Good Morning All
My query is I have a daughter who is through the courts on a shared care order between myself and my Ex there is no residency order for either of us I have her 4days 1 week and 3 days another and vice versa My daughter is not happy at her mums and wants to come and live with me and her 2 brothers who also live with me fulll time they have no contact with their mother at all her mother has now met someone and has been with him for about 8months but my daughter who is 12yrs old in November refuses to talk to him and doesnt want anything to do with him because he has moved in with them my daughter is unhappy and does not want to return to her mothers when she is with me but because there is a court order in place i have to take her back which makes her unhappy they are going on holiday in about 2 weeks time and my daughter is adamant that she doesnt want to go and keeps telling her mother she doesnt want to go but all she gets from her mum is your going and thats it she is nowasking me not to take her back and i have explained to her that because there is a court order in place i have to take her back but is there any way i can stop her from taking my daughter if she doesnt want to go
i have been told that because my daughter has my surname my ex would need a letter off me to take her abroad is this true and if not does anyone know any other way to stop her legaly I am only trying to do what my daughter wants me to do but through legal channels
i am thinking of applying for a section 7 wishes and feelings report to allow my daughter the chance to air her views on what she wants and where she wants to live
Regards
Hi there
The fact that you have shared residency would suggest that either parent wanting to take her on holiday would need the permission from the other. Here's a link to more information about that
https://www.gov.uk/permission-take-child-abroad
You could write to the mother and tell her that she needs your permission to take your daughter out of the country and you will not give it as it is against your daughters wishes, enclose a copy of the information in the link I've given you. Inform her that you will be contacting the Passport Office and Customs to inform them that you do not give permission for your daughter to be removed from the country and if she tries she will be prevented from doing so. Also remind her that forcing your daughter to go wouldn't be pleasant for any of them and is likely to dampen the holiday for her and her partner.
Hopefully she will see sense.
At 12 years old your daughters wishes will carry weight, but you are correct the existence of an order make this more difficult.
You could apply for an urgent Specific Issue Order and a variation of the existing order to have your daughter live with you.... your daughter is at an age where she knows her own mind the court would take notice of her wishes. The fact that she has two siblings that she wants to spend more time with is also an important point.
You could also give the police a call and explain the situation to them, ask them for their advice and whether if you kept hold of your daughter and didn't return her to her mother, what their position would be. I'm pretty sure, as you have PR they wouldn't get involved as its a civil matter, the order was made in a civil court. The only issue is that the mother could apply to the court for an enforcement order, although with your daughter being so unhappy with the changes at home and expressing her wish to live with you and her brothers the court might find that you had good reason to breach the order anyway.
Lots for you to ink about.....best of luck with it.
You said
.....I am thinking of applying for a section 7 wishes and feelings report to allow my daughter the chance to air her views on what she wants and where she wants to live
This isn't an option, a section 7 report is something that the court can order during a court case, if they feel there's a need for an in depth report about the situation, to enable them to make an informed decision about what would be in the best interests of the child.
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