Coops13

Evening all… Returned to Melbourne after 20 years in the UK. I married whilst there so came back as a family with our two kids. things didn’t go to plan as I loved it and slotted straight back in, the kids (11 and 7) loved it but after 2 years my wife wanted to go back to North Wales. I couldn’t do it and the next three years were spent in court with a Hague convention hearing in London to get my children back after she did a runner with them and a further two years court time in Australia as the fight to keep them here continued. Long story short, I am now a full time single dad of two and loving it. Work full time in a job I love, live on the beautiful Mornington peninsula and both children are doing great in school and University. My ex moved back to her small village in Nth Wales which is a shame for the children but….life goes on. Australia is far from perfect and is expensive and living in Victoria as I do it is run by fools but hey….isn’t everywhere. The lifestyle is the kicker for me. If outdoors and easy going is an attractive option then you can’t go wrong. Good luck to you all and nothing ventured….nothing gained. Maybe avoid Victoria (also now known as the lockdown state) for while if you do come over

Hi DrDougster.... Am I reading your first line correctly and that mortgage interest on a UK investment property can be claimed as a tax deduction in Australia despite this no longer being allowed in the UK. I had thought that one would have filed their UK tax return and all the ATO would look at would be the final number. Would love to learn a little more about this as I can't believe I've not picked up on this before. Thanks in advance......

Thanks all. Her mother lives in the UK so we should be able to sort something to cover the residency part of things and she's going to be in the UK for around 8 - 10 weeks so we should be OK with the timings. Agree completely about the passing a test doesn't mean you can drive and she would be on Red P's in Victoria given the rules here which is fine by me. Thanks again and am just spit balling ideas at the moment....

Morning all... My daughter has just turned 18 and is keen to get her driving licence and is considering the possibility of going through one of the intensive course whilst on holiday in the UK which would remove the need for the 120 hrs of log book work here. Has anyone considered this option and see any roadblocks with it (excuse the pun) Thanks in advances.

Afternoon all.... Apologies if this is already covered but, need to make some regular transfers (AUD to GBP) over the next few weeks and had used XE.com in years gone by but wondered if there were any clear leaders on this front now. Need to make a big one at the end of this week so a quick set up would also need to be a given as of course are charges and exchange rates. Thanks in advance

Hi Aussiepom.... Thanks for the post and I'm hoping this could be a help to me. Just arrived home to a letter advising me that my mortgage has passed the end of it's term. I will review the details tonight and will definitely be in touch. Cheers S

Evening all.... Just wondering if anyone has any experience of divorcing or organising a financial settlement when the other person is living in the UK. Short version of the situation is as follows..... Moved to Australia in 2011. Separated from my wife in Sept 2014. She is now living and working in the UK. I am living and working in Australia. Both children (15 and 11 years old) live with me. (Court Orders in place) We have property in the UK and Australia. I don't care about a divorce but I do want to start on the road to financial separation and am looking into whether I should instruct a UK lawyer or use an Australian/International firm to go through this process. I would like to think it could be amicable and will start down that route but previous history would suggest it is not likely. Anyone have any experience or recommendations...? The other area of interest is Child Support. She refuses to pay anything towards the children's care despite being employed as a Teacher. My believe is she thinks that the money she spends on flights to see the children is in lieu of child support which is ridiculous as it was her decision to move to the UK.....the children were not taken away from her The CSA in Australia have accepted my case and arrears have started to accrue, however, the calculations are still based on her income being zero. Does anyone have any experience of chasing a partner who is based in the UK and how successful the CSA are at enforcing things. Lots to find out and thought this might be a good place to start. Thanks in advance

Wow....aren't you the ray of sunshine this morning. I would have thought that doing your own due diligence around a topic gaining a better understanding before you progress down such an expensive route is surely common sense. If you have nothing better to contribute parleycross I would suggest you say nothing.:wink:

Not expecting anyone to answer the question in detail but it's always good to be in touch with people that have been through the process themselves. I'm tired of learning from my own mistakes and forums are great for sharing the experience we all gain from a broader pool of experience. Cheers

If only it was that simple. The balance isn't right as there are a number of properties in the UK and just the two in Aus. Would have been nice to have had that option though..!

Evening all.... I was wondering if anyone has any experience of, not so much completing an international divorce, as I know that is pretty straight forward. My query relates more to the property settlement. One party is UK based and the other is Aus based and there are properties in both UK and Aus. I am trying to get my head around whether I should try and do it in Australia but from what I've read, an Australian court order in relation to property overseas can be difficult to enforce. I will of course get legal advice but this is part of own due diligence before hand. Thanks in advance.

Hi Tina2..... That is a very good question and I would like to say that the simple answer is of course yes, however, there are a lot of legal guarantees that will need to be put in place before this was to take place. Given the fact she abducted them in the first place my first priority needs to be to safeguard the children so it can never happen again. Finances also come into this as the whole process has crippled us, so something as simple as actually buying the tickets is now a huge undertaking. Having said that I do believe that in an perfect world children would have a both a mother and a father in their lives, but I think we all know there's no such thing as 'perfect' world and it remains to be seen how things progress from here.

Delighted to update you all and let you know that both children are now home in Australia. It was an extremely emotional reunion for them both and they are now back to some kind of normality and have picked up where they left off before the whole saga began and are immersed themselves in their school and circle of friends. I would just like to say thank you for all the support I have been given both publicly and via PM's. It has been a long process and an extremely taxing one both emotionally and financially and one that needn't have happened. However, it's all behind us now and we move onto the next hurdle, but we do do so knowing that the children are well cared for and are in a settled environment. Thanks again....

A quick update on my situation and whilst I'm delighted to say that my 10 year old son is back home in Australia and he is beaming, my 14 year old daughter is still in the UK and I continue to fight to have her returned. We were successful in having an order approved by the High Court after my wife agreed to voluntarily allow the children to return. She had no choice but to agree as the judge effectively said she had no case and would have made the judgement anyway. The three of us were booked to fly home on Boxing Day but unfortunately my daughter could not stand up to the pressure that was being place upon her. Despite her being adamant in her CAFCASS report that Australia was home, she wanted to be there and most of all she never wanted to be separated from her brother, she told me that she couldn't leave her Mum who has from day one been telling the children that should they go home to Australia she wouldn't come back and they would not see her for a long time. That is a hard things to put on a sensitive and already emotional 14 year old. After plenty of discussion I agreed to allow Alex to stay but advised her that the court case would now start again. My wife contacted a top law firm in London and arranged to have Alex represented as an individual but this needed to be agreed by a judge. They all went to court last week and the Judge made it clear in no uncertain terms that this was ridiculous. He said that he could see absolutely no reason for Alex to have individual representation and he asked to speak to Alex in private to ascertain her reasons for changing her mind. He said some lovely things about how well she was handling things and how eloquent she had been in their meeting and he stated that he had absolutely no doubt at all that Alex wanted to be in Australia. His judgement was that the original order stands and that Alex is to be collected by me in two weeks and flown home. The issue of parental responsibility was one that he kept referring to and stated that it was disappointing to see that despite agreeing to have the children return home, my wife continues to encourage and pressure my daughter instead of accepting the decision and making the transition an easy one. I am desperate to get my daughter out of the toxic environment she is in and get her home to her brother and am hoping that things go smoothly although I am not holding my breath.

Hi Would be happy to share my experiences of things to date and will PM you tonight. I'm actually in the UK at the moment spending time with them things are in motion with the Hague Application....! The link that is above to the other thread is an interesting one as well. Chin up and stay positive as the law is on your side and you need to stay focussed and try and keep the emotion out of the process and get all your facts rights. Having said that......I think I've openly cried in front of pretty much everyone I spoke to about it in the first four weeks.