Taking Children Abroad

A parent is not entitled to take a child out of the UK without the permission of the other parent.  It does not matter whether the time abroad is for only a short period such as a family holiday. 

The exception is where there is a residence order in place.  The Children Act Generalauthorises a parent in whose favour a residence order has been made to remove a child from England and Wales for up to a month without the consent of the other parent or the court’s permission.

If there is a dispute about travel abroad, we can make an application to the court on your behalf.

A parent who removes a child from the UK without obtaining any required permission (from the other parent or the court) will have “abducted” the child.  Court proceedings, and in some cases criminal proceedings, may be brought both here and in the other country to secure the child’s swift return home.  It is no answer to those proceedings that the child ordinarily lives with the parent alleged to have abducted the child.

Increasingly common are situations where a parent, after the end of a relationship, proposes to relocate permanently to another country.  This might be borne of a desire to return to family support networks after the unhappy end of a relationship.  Alternatively, a new partner might have connections (work or family) abroad, or the decision to live elsewhere might be economically motivated. 

Whatever the reason, the parent planning to move will need the permission of the other parent, or the court’s blessing, to relocate with the child abroad.  These applications (known by lawyers as “leave to remove” applications) can be incredibly difficult.  Compromises can prove impossible, because of geographical or other considerations:  whereas parents can “split the difference” to resolve a dispute about the duration of contact visits where everybody lives locally, there is no middle ground where a parent seeks to relocate with a child, for example, to the Far East.

For more information or advice from our team of family lawyers, please contact Jane Keir on + 44 (0)20 7814 1200 or email jkeir@kingsleynapley.co.uk.