[Solved] Residence

Hi Simon and welcome 🙂

You have done the right thing applying for A Residence Order, how old are your children? It would have been advisable to apply for a Prohibited Steps Order too as this would prevent her from taking the children abroad.

I think it would be a good idea for the Coram Childrens Legal Centre to come and give you some legal advice. I'll ask the Moderators to ask them to drop by....if you cant wait there is a link to their website at the bottom of the page.

Best of luck 🙂

Thanks for replying so quickly 🙂

The children are 13, 10 and 7 - two boys and a girl.
I don't want to stop their mum from seeing them but at the same time, once abroad, i have no idea what rights there would be in a foreign country.
I'll check out the Coram Centre link while I wait for them to get in touch but if I can't wait any longer 🙂 I'll get in touch with them
It's hard to know what to do or where to look so your advice is great thanks 🙂

I've flagged your post to the Moderators so hopefully CCLC will come and advise you.

The 13 and 10 year old are old enough for their wishes to be taken into account, how do they feel about it all and do they want to stay in the UK? The 7 year old is a little young but the authorities very, very rarely split siblings up so if the older ones want to stay here then he/she will be included in that. 🙂

Hi SiCh,

I have asked CCLC to pop by and offer you some advice.

Cheers

Gooner

Dear SiCh

Thank you for your post.

As you were married to the mother of your children you have Parental Responsibility for them. This does not get removed upon divorce.
Parental Responsibility is defined in s.3(1) Children Act 1989 as being: "all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property".

Practically Parental Responsibility means that both parties should consult and consent on issues such as schooling, medical issues, change of name, removal from the jurisdiction and other major issues concerning the child.

As you do have Parental Responsibility, you have equal rights and responsibilities towards the children which you share equally with the mother. This does mean that your consent would be required for any removal from the jurisdiction.

From the information you have provided it appears that you have applied for a Residence Order. We would advise that you continue with your application for this Order but consider applying for a Prohibited Steps Order if you do have concerns that your ex wife may take the children without your consent. You can apply for a Prohibited Steps Order to prevent the mother removing the children from your care and also from the jurisdiction of the UK.

If you are currently in proceedings for your Residence Order then to apply for the Prohibited Steps Order you would need to complete a Form C2 which can be obtained from www.justice.gov.uk. There is a small fee for this application which you will need to check with the Court. If proceedings have not started but you have lodged your application for a Residence Order we would advise that you contact the Court to see whether they would accept a C2 for a further application or whether they would require a whole new application on a C100 form (this form has a fee of £200). If however you have not yet filed an application for Residence you can apply for both Residence and Prohibited Steps Order on a C100 form which is downloadable from www.justice.gov.uk or from your local court.

Once you have completed the relevant form you would need to hand the form to your local Family Proceedings Court and await a hearing date. If you do feel that the move could be imminent you can apply on an emergency basis.

If we can assist you further with your query please do contact us via our freephone advice line 0808 8020 008. We are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm.

We wish you the best of luck.

Yours sincerely

CORAM CHILDREN'S LEGAL CENTRE

Thank you for all the help and advice with my issue.

I have had the first hearing and was granted the residence order straight away.
Your help gave me the confidence to go in more aware of my options.

We have to go back in eight weeks so my ex wife can put forward a schedule of her visits to and from the UK so that the children have more of an idea when they will see her.

So, once again, thank you for your help and hopefully a result like that....it will maybe give other Dad's a little more confidence too

All the best

Hi Simon 🙂

That's fantastic news, I'm so happy we were able to help and thank you so much for dropping by with your update! 🙂

You are completely right, we are spurred on when we hear about the successes of others.....well done! 🙂

If you feel inclined you could write a blog about your experiences in the Blog section so that others can reference it more easily! Otherwise people's stories slip down the section and sink without trace! 😆

Ooh, I like a story with a happy ending 🙂 Simon, that's excellent news, and it's always encouraging for others to see that this can happen.