Emily Cannell, Head of Family at Mincoffs Solicitors, advises separated parents to plan early and think ahead when it comes to organising a trip away with children.
As we creep closer to spring and summer, many families are starting to think about holidays.
While planning a trip can be an exciting time, it can also be a stressful one for separated parents who need to navigate their rights and responsibilities on taking their children on holiday.
Without an existing Child Arrangements Order in place, it is up to parents to agree holiday arrangements for their children and so it is advisable to discuss arrangements with the other parent as early as possible. Where both parents have parental responsibility for a child, consent will be needed from the other parent before taking a child outside of the country.
It is also wise to travel with a document setting out the arrangements for the holiday with signed consent to travel outside of the country from the other parent.
When discussing holiday arrangements and obtaining consent to take a child abroad, it is best practise to give as much detail about the proposed holiday as possible.
This means sharing the destinations, dates, airline information, contact details for the accommodation and who else will be going on the trip.
Often parents can feel this is an invasion of privacy and that the information is not relevant or required by the other parent, but in our experience the more transparency about the arrangements the better.
The only exception to requiring consent by the other parent is if the other parent does not have parental responsibility for your child, you have a court order that states the child lives with you (in which case you can take them abroad for up to 28 days without the other parent’s consent) or you have a Child Arrangements Order in place that specifies the dates that you are permitted to travel abroad with the child and the holiday is in accordance with the terms of the Order.
Taking a child abroad without a court order or the consent of all parties with parental responsibility is a criminal offence of child abduction.
If consent to a holiday abroad is refused by the other parent then it is advisable to seek legal advice as soon as possible.
In some cases, consent can ultimately be agreed if the issues relating to the withholding of consent can be addressed.
If not, the parent wishing to take the child abroad would need to seek permission of the court to do so by applying for a Specific Issues Order, which will ultimately determine whether the holiday goes ahead or not.
If an application to the Court is required, it can take weeks or months for the application to be determined; it is therefore important to discuss your options with a solicitor as soon as possible.