Moving with my fiancee and stepson

[Kai4886]

Me and my fiancee want to move to Australia...all my family live there except my father..my fiancee has a son from a previous relationship..hes 3..could we fight to take him if his part time dad disagrees?we could both get great jobs as my company has a base there? Anyone else in the same boat or know of anyone thats managed the move...many thanks..

[Guest]

Check and see if there would be the sponsorship to navigate re your job. I am not so sure it's just a simple case of transferring. There are visa steps to follow and apply for. Also it could  be a temp visa and you would be tied to the job. You need to research this all a bit more before doing anything else. 

Re your stepson, if the father refuses to agree to his son moving to Australia it could be a case of going to court to seek approval to take him. If you use the forum search I would think you would find a lot of threads on the subject. There would be a legal process to go through and it may not be granted or you would need to ensure you paid for regular visits etc. If the relationship isn't cordial or on good ground it could be tricky to just come out and ask (well it's hard either way and potentially very distressing for parent being asked to sign) and so I'd ensure you are able to actually migrate and that it's alll able to move forward before you go saying anything to the child's father. It could be he is open to his child moving overseas but he may not be and so you will need to present your case in court and show why it would be a better move etc for the family. 

[Beffers]

You would need to apply to the UK Courts to ask for formal permission to remove the child from the UK, without the other parent's consent.  The child's father would have joint parental responsibility and so can also put up a defence against you taking the child out of the country, especially if there are grandparents and extended family.  Under the laws of the Hague Convention, to which both the UK and Australia are signed up to, they use the rule of habitual residence of the child, and at the moment, it's definitely the UK. You would need to get a good immigration lawyer to put up a case to prove why it is in the best interests of the child to remove them from the UK.  The other side will scrutinise your proposal carefully, including looking at how stable your relationship is, whether you could afford to support the child for definite, and also looking at how long you and the mother have been together, etc.  Part of this scrutiny will include how solid your job situation is, how definite your visa situation is and all that kind of thing - you would need to ensure you could obtain your visa, etc, before you start the court process.  And be warned, it's not a cheap process.  I think also once you have been granted permission to leave UK, that you have to register the situation with the Australian courts as well.  As Snifter said above, there are other threads on this.  Good luck!

[Kai4886]

You would need to apply to the UK Courts to ask for formal permission to remove the child from the UK, without the other parent's consent.  The child's father would have joint parental responsibility and so can also put up a defence against you taking the child out of the country, especially if there are grandparents and extended family.  Under the laws of the Hague Convention, to which both the UK and Australia are signed up to, they use the rule of habitual residence of the child, and at the moment, it's definitely the UK. You would need to get a good immigration lawyer to put up a case to prove why it is in the best interests of the child to remove them from the UK.  The other side will scrutinise your proposal carefully, including looking at how stable your relationship is, whether you could afford to support the child for definite, and also looking at how long you and the mother have been together, etc.  Part of this scrutiny will include how solid your job situation is, how definite your visa situation is and all that kind of thing - you would need to ensure you could obtain your visa, etc, before you start the court process.  And be warned, it's not a cheap process.  I think also once you have been granted permission to leave UK, that you have to register the situation with the Australian courts as well.  As Snifter said above, there are other threads on this.  Good luck!

Thakyou both for your sound advice i will have a look at the forums and see how others have managed it figure out the best ways and alternatives..thankyou for taking the time to respond and help..kind regards..Kai..

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[Collie]

Hey mate,

If the child's Dad is involved in the child's life it is highly unlikely you would allowed to permanently remove the child to another country without his permission.  The child could always remain with his Dad and you guys could move.  That would be a big ask of your fiance.

If the Dad is not involved and doesn't want to know the kid you would have a stronger case.  He may even agree if it gets him out of child support.

I would ask you to take a moment to consider how you would feel if you were in the Dad's shoes.  Imagine you have a child from a previous, would you be happy for him to be taken away from you to live on the other side of the world, effectively killing any chance of you having a close relationship with him?  Also consider how the child will feel when he is older - you are destroying the chance for him to have a loving and caring relationship with his Dad.  He may resent you or more importantly his Mum in later life for that decision.

It's a tough call but the interests of the child come first.  To separate a child from a willing and loving parent woudl require compelling reasons. 

 

PS - Please don't use the term part time Dad - it is highly offensive to Dads who don't get to see their kids as often as they would like