Removing a Child Permanently from England and Wales

• The Law-Removing a Child permanently from England and Wales
• DIY Application to remove a Child from the Jurisdiction

The Law

The decided cases on removing a child from the UK have established a number of general principles. These are:

• There is no presumption in favour of the applicant parent;
• the reasonable proposals of the parent with a residence order wishing to live abroad carry great weight;
• the practical side of the relocation proposals should be scrutinised with great care including the practical side of ensuring adequate contact to the other parent continuing;
• the court needs to be satisfied that there is a genuine motivation for the move and not an intention to bring contact between the children and the other parent to an end:
• the effect upon the applicant parent and the new family of the child of a refusal of leave is very important:
• the effect upon the child of the denial of contact with the other parent and in some cases the wider family is very important and will require the court to analyse the current contribution of the non resident parent and wider family to the care of the child:
• the opportunities for continuing contact between the child and the parents left behind may be very significant;
• the child's welfare is paramount but in assessing the relocation application all relevant aspects of the welfare checklist must be analysed including where appropriate the wishes and feelings of the child;
• the court should first consider with which parent the child should live of, taking account of the plans of each parent as to where the family should live;

The application of these general principles has shown the following approach to be adopted by the courts;

• The more contact and involvement there is at the time of the application between the child and the non resident parent and the family, the less likely the application is to be granted;
• the applicant will fail unless the plan is demonstrably detailed and well fought through. The plan should cover education, accommodation, childcare, employment, financial resources, immigration procedures and contact;
• the stronger the evidence of a link to the country to which it is proposed that the family move the more unlikely the application is to be granted;
• the existence of evidence showing that the applicant has been hostile to contact or denigrates the other parent or has made unsubstantiated allegations against them or flouted orders of the court will seriously undermine the applicants chance of success;
• the stronger the evidence of distress to the applicant if the application is refused the more likely it is to be granted. Such evidence might include reports from psychiatric or psychological experts;
• the closer the case comes to an appropriate categorisation as a ' lifestyle choice ' case the less likely the application is to be granted;
• the child's vulnerabilities will be particularly cygnets are current in either direction. Such would include the impact of change, the resources within the proposed jurisdiction to provide services to the child and family and any other matters which go to the child's well-being;
• the separation of siblings or half siblings will be highly significant and likely to lead to refuse all accept in unusual circumstances;
• the existence of a legal framework in the other jurisdiction or other enforcement procedure is before departure will assist the court to feel confident that contact will take place as envisaged at the time of dealing with the application;
• adverts or significantly different living conditions in the other country will not automatically lead to permission being refused.



Application to remove a Child from the Jurisdiction

Temporary removal from the UK is much more likely to be granted if this is for an extended holiday or to pursue a career opportunity or to study. In such cases the court is likely to grant the application and will consider for the utmost to ensure that contact continues and a mechanism is in place to enforce a return to the UK should this become necessary
A parent who wishes to take a child to live permanently outside of England and Wales for more than one month must first.obtain the other parent with parental responsibility written consent.

If this consent is not forthcoming and the other parent with parental responsibility objects to the child being taken overseas it will be necessary to apply to the Court for permission. Otherwise it is a criminal offence to take the child out of the country and jurisdiction of the Court.

Legal-Zone have a DIY pack available to help and guide you in making application to the Family Court for permission to remove a child overseas.

This is a mammoth package containing a full description of the law, the decisions in the major decided cases and what you must show to succeed in your application.

The Pack has sections dealing with:

The principles derived from the leading cases on removal
The approach adopted by the courts
The procedure to make an application
Examples of the completed application form
What should go into your supporting statement
Evidence in support of an application
opposing an application
Decided Cases

The Legal-Zone Application to remove a Child from the Jurisdiction Pack provides all the information and documents which are needed by a parent to make an application themselves and save what would almost certainly be very substantial legal costs.

• The price of the package is £14.99

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