childs passport/holiday in term time

[lawsanass]

Hi all. A friend of mine is divorced from his wife and they have an 11 year old daughter who lives with her mum. 2 years ago mum persuaded dad to give her daughters passport so they could go to france for the weekend. (dad had passport as he had bought it so he could take daughter on holiday 3 months earlier) When dad asked for passport back mum said they didnt get to france as her boyfriend was poorly. She kept stalling and dad started to get suspicious. Some weeks later, it was xmas and dad was due to have daughter from boxing day for a few days. He went to the house to collect her and no one was in. After calling all mobile numbers he had to try and find out where daughter was, there was no reply and he was getting very worried. He was then approached by mums neighbour who said they had all gone abroad for 2 weeks. Turns out mum and boyfriend had arranged to get married in USA and took kids and not told anyone. My friend was heartbroken, all plans made to have xmas day on boxing day, family etc. Dad finally got passport back, lots of rows etc. Now to the problem....Mum wants to take daughter out of new secondary school in January for 2 week holiday (its extremely frowned upon in our local schools) and Dad says no. Mum furious as holiday already booked. Mum telling daughter that Daddy stopping her going on holiday!! Big bad Daddy !! etc. Should Dad keep passport and not let her go, or give in and possibly be in trouble for aiding mum in taking child from school. Also, can a child have a passport that is duplicated so both mum and dad have one each ? sorry to go on, wanted to give some background. would appreciate comments

[redcrx]

the passport does not belong to anyone, its the property of the Home Office.

The best they can do is sit and discuss this like adults, not bicker and argue and upset the child.

[STIDW]

A child can only have one passport. If the parents cannot resolve the issue between them one of them can apply to court for a specific issue or prohibited steps order and the court will decide after hearing both sides. The courts may order the handing over of a passport or that it is kept with a solicitor.

[STIDW]

A child can only have one passport. If the parents cannot resolve the issue between them one of them can apply to court for a specific issue or prohibited steps order and the court will decide after hearing both sides. The courts may order the handing over of a passport or that it is kept with a solicitor.

[Lil O'lady]

If the school has not formally approved this holiday in term-time, it may result in the family being required to find another school. If daughter has made friends, then she needs to understand as she is no longer a baby and that playing the bad dad card may result in her becoming billy no-mates at a new school. Mum needs to grow up quickly and start making decisions for the good of the family she has produced, or allow child to live full time with the father.

[sara3]

how old is the child? if it's GCSE year he should stand his ground. otherwise he could compromise, but only if the school authorise the absence.

she sounds like a nightmare, btw.

[dothawkes31]

Surely before booking the holiday the Mum would have had to prove to the school that it was the only possible time they could go away. Anyway, Dad should let his daughter have her passport anyway, it's not his property at all. He should arrange his own holiday with her and both parents should tell their daughter how lucky she is to get the chance for double holidays