unmarried mother

[alexine]

I am an unmarried mother with dual citizenship British and Canadian.
I want to take my child to Canada to live and be schooled. Can the father prevent me from doing this? The baby was born in Canada and I pay my taxes in Canada although I have residence in both countries. The father is British.

Thanks

[craft1948]

Well there's nothing to stop him from trying but don't think he'll get very far.......does he contribute to the child's upkeep.........

[fredpuli47]

He only has parental rights, which include the right to intervene here, if 1) the baby's birth was jointly registered by you and him [ this applies after Oct 2003] or 2) you and he had an agreement whereby he had parental responsibility 'a parental responsibility agreement' or 3) a court has ordered that he have parental responsibility.
Otherwise has no standing in this or any other matter relating to the child because you have sole parental responsibility, as the mother.
If he has parental rights he has to be consulted.If he refuses to agree then he has a right to be heard. It is extremely unlikely that the court will say that a Canadian mother of a baby is to be prevented from taking the child to Canada .The child has to be with its mother, so where she goes the child goes. If she were manifestly unfit to be acting as mother ( e.g. practising drug addict always out of her mind) then obviously the case would be different.

[tamborine]

father has no rights over child as you're not married.

[fredpuli47]

He has no rights unless he has parental rights as explained above. It is simply not true that a father who is not married to the mother cannot have rights over the child.Many don't but many do BTW. I should have explained that a parental rights agreement is a formal document which has to be signed, specially witnessed, in accordance with rules, and lodged in court to be valid. It's not just a simple agreement in writing.