Parental consent

[jezlewis]

My wife an I divorced in Fab 05. We have a 4 year old daughter who I see every other day plus my ex and I spend time together with our daughter nearly every weekend.
My wife is American and our daughter has dual nationality. (she was born in the UK, if that makes any difference).

My wife wants to return to the US and take our daughter with her. I cannot get a Green Card based on my daughers' US passport until she is 21 and can sponsor me.

Legally, can my wife decide to up sticks and take my daughter to the USA without my consent? We have up until now decided on her welfare jointly but now, she says she is going whether I like it or not. I, of course, will put up a fight as I dont want to be dad who sees his daughter every 3 or 4 months !.

regards,

Jeremy

[Carakeel]

jezlewis, this must be such a hard time for you. I'm afraid I cannot give you legal advice on this matter. I think you should apply to the courts to stop your ex-wife from denying you access to your child, which is in effect what she would be doing by taking her to the US. As your little girl was born in the UK and you are British, I would think that her British nationality will override her US one. Joint nationality is always a tricky thing and many countries do not allow it in the first place. But taking her out of the country without your consent may well be illegal, even if it were just for a holiday. My daughter had to get consent from her nearly ex -husband when she wanted to take the kids to visit their grandfather in another country. If you apply to the courts to stop your daughter being taken abroad, they will consider it and may well make an order in your favour, especially as you have so far been a very active and involved, caring father. I would go to see a solicitor tomorrow morning and not waste any time in seeking a court order. What about applying for custody of your daughter yourself? Loving fathers can make great single parents, - just as great as loving mothers! Perhaps if you were in a position to do this, your ex-wife might think her plans through again and be a bit more considerate to both you and your daughter. 'In the interest of the child' the phrase the courts usually use ... does not mean robbing your daughter of a loving father. Your daughter does have rights ... as do you! I really hope this works out for you and you are able to keep seeing your daughter on a regular basis. My thought are with you as are my best wishes.

[nwtrikette]

I have been in a similar situation to this only I am the mother. I am Canadian, my children are British.
When I was going through my divorce my ex tried to put a block on my childrens passports, he was worried that I would take my children away from him (although I never would). I was told by my solicitor that if I could prove that my children would have a better up bringing in any other part of the world, then He could not stop me taking them. The only conditions were that I would have to ensure that we had a phone line so he could keep in touch with the children, I would have to give him my address and I would have to allow him to visit whenever he could get over there (I would not have to bring them back to the UK for visits).

All this was 5yrs ago so maybe things have changed since then.

If you really want to move over there yourself you dont need to rely on your daughters citizenship. You could go on your own merits, it may be worth looking into.... just in case.