Children, Spain and quarantine

Morning all,
I’m posting her on behalf of a friend of mine. Although I was a regular user of this website during my own divorce, I am happy to report that life has now moved on on and is better than ever!
However, back to my friend. She has a very contentious relationship with the father of her daughter and has been on anti-depressants and medication for stress due to the fact that the have been to court 7 times in recent years, running up huge debts in the process. They live quite far from each other as the father moved away - during lockdown, the daughter didn’t see her father for several months but they have an agreement in place for all of the contact time to be made up over the summer. This has already started.
The issue now is that he is adamant that he wants to take their daughter to a Spanish island towards the end of August. Given the government’s ruling, my friend does not want this to happen. Even more so as, if the quarantine period is still in place, she would not be able to start school in September with everyone else. As my friend is a teacher, the father has suggested that the answer to this is that the daughter stays with him for a total of 28 days. She has never been away from her mum for more than 10 days to date ( daughter is 6). The father is now threatening another court appearance to demand that the mum’s name is removed as the passport holder, giving him sole charge. He currently cannot apply for a passport on his own for their daughter due to a court order, as he previously tried to take their daughter abroad without consent.
I’d appreciate any advice or comments on whether either parent is acting reasonably, and how this very difficult situation might best be managed (whilst also takin into account my friends wellbeing).
Thanks!

Hi Happyagain, I'm really pleased that life is good for you

The current advice from the FCO is "The Foreign & Commonwealth Office currently advises British nationals against all but essential international travel." This includes the Balearic and Canary Islands. Many flight operators are now cancelling flights to mainland Spain and Spanish Islands,m with some urging holidaymakers to cut short thier holiday and return home to the UK immediately.
www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain

Your friend is right to refuse to consent to Dad taking child to a country where the FCO are strongly advising against all non-essential travel. While holidays are nice, and I'm sure her child would enjoy a holiday abroad with Dad, that needs to be weighed up against the difficulties of the quarantine period upon return, and the child not being able to return to school at the start of term, given that she will already have missed months of schooling (and being apart from her friends), your friend is well-placed to argue that the impact the holiday would have on the child's education and associated socialising would not be in the best interests of the child.

Is there a Child Arrangements Order in place? Your friend might want to give our helpline a call to find out how Wikivorce can help her, possibly with a consultation with one of the consultants.