Taking children to america for a year

Hi
I've been divorced since January of this year. I was married for 6 years and have two children aged 6 and 3. I have now got a new partner who is in the military and has been posted to georgia - america. we are getting married on may3rd and want to live together as a family in the states until he is posted back here in july 2011. We have asked permission from the childrens father and he has refused. The father is a recovering alcoholic who see the children for 1-2 hours a week. He has only been seeing the children again since january as i stopped contact whilst he was drinking. I am going to take him to court so we can get perission from the court to go and just wondered how long it takes to get a court date - we live in sheffield uk. I also wanted to know what the court process is and how long it takes. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks Katie

An application for removal from jurisdiction can take a while particularly if defended. 6 months is not unusual.

However, as you are intending to return to the UK this may work in your favour as you may not need to make an application for removal on a permanent basis. This still leaves the issue of contact but if the children have a good relationship with your new parter this will also stand in your favour.

Charles

For my case, from initial application to request being granted took 10 months. Sorry it seems so long, I think it also depends where you live and how big a backlog the court and CAFCASS have.

Good luck x

Although there is less scrutiny of applications for temporary removal from the jurisdiction you will need to demonstrate good planning regarding education, accommodation, finances etc and proper arrangements for contact. The courts will consider the history and withholding of contact and the fathers motivation for not consenting to the move.

You might need to make an undertaking to return to the UK so the court can be more persuaded that it can retain jurisdiction if the child's habitual residence is to remain in the UK.

Whatever the legal aspects,........ his "alcoholism" and not a person you love anymore, he is still their father and will rightly put up a fight as you would if the situation were reversed, you need to do everything in your power to get some kind of buyin and acceptance of your plans from him, possibly through a professional mediation service, if you force the issue through without any acceptance the bitterness and hatred could last for years and impact the children for many more. You obviously have a new life and you have to be happy within that life, that is in the children's best interest also. A really difficult place to be
good luck
Arnie

Katie,

Just a thought...you say the Dad is a recovering alcoholic re establishing contact with the children...it could be considered detrimental to remove the children at this juncture. This is a real difficult situation and I wish you all well...please keep us posted of the outcome.

E

Hi thanks all for your replys - just to confirm I am not trying to stop contact with the father. I have said he is welcome to visit and we will be back for holidays where he can see them. We have also offered to give him a coputer and webcam so he can contact the children via skype whenever he wishes.
I have been to see my solicitor and will keep updating this forum as there seems to very little info in the web about this topic.

My solicitor has applied to the court and as tie is of the essence she has applied for time to be abridged. She expects I will by the end of this week have a letter fro the court with a date for next weeek for the hearing. If he contests at the hearing it will be adjurned so we can both prepare statements.

I'll update once I've recieved the letter