Relocating With a Child to Your Home Country After Divorce
When you end a relationship, it's often time to reassess your future and adjust your plans. If you have a child and want to relocate with them back to your home country after your divorce, you also need to consider children law when making your relocation plans.
OTS Solicitors in London specialise in family and immigration law and are experts in child relocation law. Our Family Law Solicitors can help you with relocation law advice on moving abroad with your child.
Contact OTS Solicitors Today for Family Law Advice– Speak to our Expert Lawyers.
The law on child relocation
The law on child relocation is complicated. English children's law may apply to your child even if neither you nor the other parent is a British citizen. Whether you or the other parent has dual nationality, Indefinite Leave to Remain, settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or is living in the UK on a visa, you need to check that you can return to your home country with your child after a separation or divorce in circumstances where the other parent is not returning to your home country with you.
English courts and child relocation
A family court in England can make an order to stop you taking your child out of England and Wales if:
- Your child is domiciled in England and Wales, or
- Your child is habitually resident in England or Wales.
The threshold for English court jurisdiction is low; your child does not need to be a British citizen for the English family court to have the jurisdiction to decide on whether your child should be allowed to leave England and Wales with you.
Parental choice and child relocation law
Many parents struggle to understand how the law can restrict their life choices. English law cannot restrict an adult’s relocation choices, but the court can determine if your child is allowed to accompany you to live overseas.
If your child is domiciled or habitually resident in England, English family law says your child cannot accompany you and permanently move out of the UK, unless you either have:
- Written consent to relocation from the other parent and anyone else with parental responsibility for the child, or
- A relocation order.
Parental responsibility and relocation
When a parent learns that they need the consent of those with parental responsibility or a court order to return to their home country with their child after a divorce, questions arise about what parental responsibility entails.
Parental responsibility is a legal term. It refers to the rights and duties of a parent. All mothers have parental responsibility, as do all married fathers. A significant proportion of unmarried fathers have parental responsibility. Others with a child arrangement order that says the child lives with them have parental responsibility through the child arrangement order.
If you are unsure who has parental responsibility for your child, our Family Lawyers in London can assess your circumstances and provide advice on parental responsibility and relocation orders.
Divorce, visas, children, and relocation
When you do not have citizenship or Indefinite Leave to Remain, it is frightening to think that the court in England may have the jurisdiction to decide on your child’s future because your ex-partner objects to your child returning with you to your home country.
Some aspects of life after a separation or divorce require expert legal advice. Our Immigration Solicitors and Family Lawyers work closely together so you get the specialist family law and immigration legal advice you need to explore your options to:
- Apply for a relocation order for your child, or
- Apply for a visa extension, Indefinite Leave to Remain or British citizenship for yourself so you can stay in the UK with your child.
Applying for a child relocation order
If those with parental responsibility for your child will not agree to you taking your child to live with you in your home country after your divorce, then you may need a court order. It's best to check if an order is required because if you try to leave the UK and parental consent or an order was needed but not obtained, you could be accused of parental child abduction.
Applying for a relocation order takes time, so it's advisable to take specialist immigration and family law advice as soon as you decide to separate. An Immigration Solicitor can explain your options to remain in the UK after your separation or divorce. You may prefer to remain, but you thought you had no alternative but to leave the UK. If there are no visa options to remain in the UK or if your personal preference is to return to your home country, our Family Law Solicitors can help you put a compelling case together to secure a relocation order for your child.
How English courts decide relocation order applications
The court makes orders for children based on what order the court assesses is in the child’s best interests. To carry out that task, the court will look at a list of criteria, known as the welfare checklist.
The checklist in the Children Act 1989 includes:
- The child’s physical, emotional, and educational needs and how relocation will affect those needs.
- The likely effect of any change in circumstances on the child, including the relocation to your home country.
- The child’s age, sex, background, and relevant characteristics.
- The capability of each parent to care for the child. For example, if one parent says they will become the primary carer of the child because they object to the child returning to the home country of the parent seeking the relocation order.
- The child’s ascertainable wishes and feelings. The weight to be given to a child’s wishes depends on the child’s age and maturity.
How OTS Solicitors can help with your relocation application
When you want to return to your home country with your child, but your ex-partner is blocking your plans, you need specialist family law legal advice and expert representation in a relocation order application.
Our experienced Relocation Order Solicitors will guide and support you through the application process, advising on how best to present your case and secure the order that will enable you to proceed with your planned relocation.
Contact Online and London Family Law Solicitors for Children Law Legal Advice.
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