QLD Relocating a Child Abroad

[BrokeGirl7]

Hi all,


I would like to relocate to France with my partner and daughter from my first marriage. I am about to start negotiating this with him but anticipate a no. Is there a chance I could force this issue in court?


Our family situation key facts:

• Our daughter turns 13 in a few months
• The father lives in Sydney and I live on the Gold Coast.
• Immediately after our divorce, we had 50/50 custody. After some time, the father asked me to take our daughter full time and only see him at his convenience, this was around 13 months ago.
• I left Sydney 12 months ago with his consent although he refused to sign any orders in relation to our daughter so we both still have full parental rights.
• My daughter lives with my partner and I full time.
• The Father has seen our daughter a total of 6 weeks out of the last 12 months. He has only seen her during the school holidays. He agreed to seeing his daughter on the school holidays only and has not requested more time.
• Last year he neglected to see his daughter during one of the agreed school holidays, this would have taken his 6 weeks of contact to 7 weeks. This year (2020) he has already cancelled one week of an upcoming school holiday.
• He plans to move to Adelaide in the next few months to take a new job.
• We have no other family in Australia. She has no contact with his extended family (who live in Asia).
• Our daughter loves her Dad but at the same time is absolutely fine with the amount of contact she has with him. I have gone to great lengths to make sure she is in good mental health and that the separation has not adversely affected her.

Other considerations:

• I will guarantee my ex-husband that he will still see his daughter for at least 7 weeks after we move to France. This is the same amount of time (one week extra) that he saw her for over the last 12 months.
• His daughter will fly with me, to Australia, in the school holidays
• Once our daughter is old enough, she may fly as an 'unaccompanied minor' or 'young passenger' which is a service our chosen airline offers.
• I will pay for the flights.
• Our daughter is positive and excited about living in France, she was visited twice.
• I have another daughter with my new partner, he is French.
• We will both be moving into high paying jobs and have family support in France

Do I have any chance to get a relation order if I go to court.


Thanks

 

[Atticus]

• I will guarantee my ex-husband that he will still see his daughter for at least 7 weeks after we move to France. This is the same amount of time (one week extra) that he saw her for over the last 12 months.

• His daughter will fly with me, to Australia, in the school holidays

• Once our daughter is old enough, she may fly as an 'unaccompanied minor' or 'young passenger' which is a service our chosen airline offers.

• I will pay for the flights.

Offer to put all of this in a consent order (parenting) & see if he agrees

 

[BrokeGirl7]

Offer to put all of this in a consent order (parenting) & see if he agrees

Thanks for your reply. I will be offering to put all of those things in the consent order and pretty much anything else he wants as long as I can have control of her location. He has always been very obstructive with anything we need to agree on and often takes the opposite side to spite me and therefore I am expecting him to say no. A consent order is the desired outcome but I am also thinking about court as a last resort.

Even when he told me he doesn't want 50/50 custody anymore, he still said no to me moving to the Gold Coast until I eventually told him it's happening regardless then he sent me a text message saying that he consents but ONLY to the Gold Coast. He likes to still be in control despite giving up 50/50 custody.

 

[Atticus]

as long as I can have control of her location.

He likes to still be in control despite giving up 50/50 custody.

Hmmm... interesting..

Anyway... Courts is likely to literally take years, especially if he deliberately strings it out... Not hard to do in that system unfortunately.. Don't believe any solicitor that claims they can get it done quickly either...

You say your willing to give him anything he asks, so offer what you have see if he asks for any other assurances would be my initial advice