Quoll

Well I'd opt for London any day of the week but I was a bit surprised to hear my Aussie raised son say that after London anything else would be pale in comparison. He's lived in London longer than I did and now has a house there. I thought he might opt for a return to Aus at one stage but I don't think anything could be further from his mind at the moment. He's more your age!

The Australian Aged benefit has a 10 year residence requirement unfortunately so you have another 8 yrs to go if you have only been resident for 2 yrs

Yup, for mr it was not belonging more than anything else. That and the heat, the flies and the dawn cacophony. But most of all it was the sense of alienation which didn't get better with time.

Excellent point - there are some folk who have been restricted to a particular jurisdiction because one parent "takes the child to kindy on a Thursday" and that area might be a living nightmare for the custodial parent (especially if it is the "other's" home town with all their rellies and friends gathered around them!)

That is always one solution:biglaugh:

Nope a father is a father and the unmarried ones have just the same voice as the married ones providing there is no doubt about who is the father.

It's even more restrictive than that - you may not be able to leave the jurisdiction so, as in the case of some women who have been on here, they have been unable to leave the small town they live in (often with the spouse's family and friendship network) because of the spouse's connection to the child. That really is a prison sentence if you arent able to move beyond the town limits and find a life somewhere else in the state even.

Nope, not an option unfortunately

Generally 16 for care and protection purposes but they will ask a child's opinion when they get into their teens - doesnt stop the family court making their 50/50 decision though. My comment about GCSEs was more to do with education than a child's wishes about who to reside with and you are planning on being away for the period which would impact their education significantly if you stayed the entire time in Aus and then planned to return.

If in doubt, cover your back! If you have any doubts at all then get this tied up with a concrete agreement, although how an Aus court would view it is another matter altogether, I dont know whether anyone has ever had the foresight to get an agreement in writing which has then been presented to an Aus court in case of a dispute of custody. Coming back with your daughter at 16 if it all goes pear shaped is going to be a very difficult proposition for her given the GCSE roundabout and all its timings. Good luck with it!

That's very sad, I would hope that someone tells your wife so she is forewarned. It doesnt mean that she wouldnt go but maybe you should man up and come to an agreement about what will happen just in case it all goes pear shaped (chances are that it wont, of course!). I know if I were in this situation and my DH had this sort of information and deliberately didnt tell me I would be mightily ticked off!!!

The chances of her being able to leave that soon are, quite honestly, very slim. If she isnt able to leave then it might be a good idea for her to be supported here by someone strong - does she have a brother/father/big strong chap who could come over and give her a hand because if her ex is a bully then he will continue to bully his way through the courts no doubt. Sadly, as you will see by reading through this thread - the Aus courts are even less likely to let a child leave if one parent says no - and he could be the biggest drop kick in the universe and the courts will come down on his side. Your friend is going to need a real Rotweiller of a solicitor and she may have to pay through the nose for it so her friends might have to do some fund raising. She might also try the domestic violence crisis services for support and if they dont do it directly they may well be able to give her a few clues on who to go to.

LOL just playing devils advocate - doesnt matter what age he is, so many parents move their kids here at all ages - you see the ones who drag their 16 year olds kicking and screaming away from all they know and love. Age is, in essence, irrelevant in this case - people do it all the time in reverse and no one bats an eyelid just pats them on the back and tells them to go for it, they are doing it for the better life blah blah blah. There is nothing inherently better about Australia, it is just a parent's itch for adventure that brings them here, usually. Often an opportunity not to be missed but rarely is it about the kids although that is the usual catch cry. At 3 your lad probably has a strong connection to grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, whatever - do you think it is a good move to take him away from them? Attachment is very strong to little kids some times and it can take them a long while to get over that loss. Once they do get over it they can have a real sense of isolation because they dont have grandma to come and see them at school on grandparents day, watch them swim in carnivals, dance in shows, see them win certificates at school, cry with them when their pets die etc It is an isolating life no matter how many acquaintances you have - at least for a generation then they begin to make their own families, the oldies die off and they become the elders with their own kids and you become the grandparents. Would you really condemn someone you love to living in a place which makes them chronically miserable and depressed and deny them the support of extended family if they decide they need it? I sincerely hope not. You are right, I am here against my will, I hate it with a passion because I am trapped but I am a strong woman and have made the least worst choice and got on with it with some semblance of compromise which sees me go home once or twice a year to retain my sanity. Doesnt mean I have to like it and it certainly doesnt mean I stay silent when I see other women being trapped in an even meaner situation ie having their kids used as pawns against them in a nasty little game of power to get their own way (I say women, as it usually is the women although there are occasional chaps who are trapped because of their wife's intransigence - apologies to those blokes who are also doing it tough). So, in a nutshell, saying you wouldnt go back because your 5 year old (for arguments sake) loved his life here just wont fly - most 5 year olds couldnt give a toss if they were in Towcester or Tuggeranong just as long as mum and dad were happy and the people that love them are in their lives.

It always seems to be "fair" on the kids to take them away from their UK lives (home, family, friends, school, activities) just because it doesnt suit the parents itch for adventure so I guess the same could be said for taking them from Aus because one parent's mental health may be suffering. It isnt like he would be going to a godforsaken place where nobody played sport (Soccer appears to be much more of a thing in UK than it does here for example) and he could never go out of doors (like Northern Canada in the winter). It's just ludicrous to suggest that you cant have a sporting outdoor life in UK - many kids do, as do many adults. Until you have experienced it, extreme heat is just as big a deterrent to putting your nose outside as is a bit of rain.

Yup, some of them do, there is no doubt about that but I would think there are more women trapped by this than men. I am surprised that a woman would be allowed out of the jurisdiction if the father objected - I know of a woman who cant even move out of a particular suburb! (That's probably a very unusual situation but hard fought on both sides!)

Yup, tough cookies. Looks like there might need to be some compromise here.

Hate to say it but that sounds pretty much standard. I admire you for being the bigger person in all this. I have a friend who is being similarly skewered by a particularly vindictive ex and she is positively angelic - I would be out with the sharp carving knife for a touch of Bobbiting I am afraid. I did find a neat little voodoo doll complete with pins and spells in Dymocks, just designed to release your inner demon with respect to the ex and I gave her that for Christmas. How she manages to be so "good" is utterly beyond me but she had a really good laugh at the voodoo doll! Maybe you could ask Santa for one!

That would largely be my experience as well. I would also venture to say that some kids never quite manage it and adjust. I guess I admit to some jaundice in this regard having seen some abominations of shared care - if only the kids could sue the judiciary down the track!!!

Sadly, it has turned out to be one of those progressive laws which have really unpalatable unintended consequences for some. When you see custodial parents who are effectively trapped and isolated because some drop kick of a partner has said they want access to their kid (and whilst it usually is the woman who is unable to access her natural support network that isnt always the case) then you do wonder whether that is really in the best interest of any child. (Have worked with kids where one parent had been found to be abusive and yet refused to allow the other parent to move out of the jurisdiction with the child to just another state where there was more extended family support) In theory the 50/50 is lovely but in practice it rarely occurs and in some cases where parents have been really amicable about their split and have taken the 50/50 literally you have kids who dont know whether they are Arthur or Martha (I worked with a kid once who did day and day about - talk about living in chaos poor little thing). At least there seems to be the capacity for families in UK to make a case to court that a child's needs would be better met elsewhere and the court will decide on the compromise situation - that seems a better option to me.