Form for divorced parents

[oklamomof4boys]

I have a friend who is taking her kids on a cruise. She is divorced and has joint custody with her ex husband. Does she have to have him sign some form to take them and where does she get that form?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have a friend who is taking her kids on a cruise. She is divorced and has joint custody with her ex husband. Does she have to have him sign some form to take them and where does she get that form?

I think it depends. Do the kids have passports? If so, the dad had to sign the form OKing them having passports, indicating that he's aware that they could be taken out of the country.

But, that being said, it wouldn't hurt if she had some sort of statement from him. Like "I, XXXXXXX, father of YYYY and ZZZZ, agree that they will be traveling with MOM'S NAME, from 12 June 2013 through 24 June 2013 (whatever dates) visiting PORTS".

 

[VowRenewal13]

My son is divorced and his kids will be traveling with our whole family to the Bahamas on the Dream next week. He does not need anything from his ex-wife giving him permission to take the kids out of the country (joint custody). If they needed passports though, both parents would have to appear together to apply for passports for the kids.

 

[Illini_Fan]

We always traveled with a notarized form signed by my wife's ex-husband. We have never needed it.

Since my wife has my last name and our boys still have their dads last name, we also bring their birth certificates and our current marriage certificate to show the lineage of my wife's last name. Again, we have never needed it.

Tom

 

[Cousin Orville]

We always traveled with a notarized form signed by my wife's ex-husband. We have never needed it.

Agreed. This applies to any parent and child traveling without the other parent, divorced or not. It's recommended by Customs and Border Protection. I got one recently when my son and I traveled abroad but was never asked for it.

 

[meajuly5]

Canada requires. Certain countries do-- I know Costa Rica does as well. Did eastern Carrib solo with kids (our names are different on passports) and was never asked. Doesn't hurt to travel with a notarized letter if you can get one.

 

[RGLakatos]

I am divorced and have full custody of my daughter. No form is needed if one party has primary custody while the other parent has only visitation rights.

Also, if one party has primary or full custody if a child while the other parent has only visitation rights then no additional signatures are needed to obtaining passports. I was able to obtain passport for my daughter without and acknowledgement or authorization from my ex-wife who only has visitation rights as she does not have primary or full custody.

 

[ibcrazie4dizney]

I am divorced and have full custody of my daughter. No form is needed if one party has primary custody while the other parent has only visitation rights.

Also, if one party has primary or full custody if a child while the other parent has only visitation rights then no additional signatures are needed to obtaining passports. I was able to obtain passport for my daughter without and acknowledgement or authorization from my ex-wife who only has visitation rights as she does not have primary or full custody.

if you don't mind me asking, did you need to supply documents for the passport? we are in the process of getting one for dgd and application was returned for more info, so we are waiting again to see if it goes thru. but since there is no contact or even knowledge of his whereabouts, we are unable to get anything signed. we are just really hoping it will go thru just so we don't have any problems on the cruise. we are just so used to always doing things and never having a problem, and don't want one on the cruise. I also hadn't thought about, as mentioned in pp, about customs at another port since we are booked for blue lagoon excursion. we will bring birth cert and court papers, but is there anything we should be aware of before we go? don't want to be stuck in another country. thanks

 

[RGLakatos]

I only supplied her birth certificate and divorce decree stating that I had sole parental custody of my daughter.

I paid the fees associated with a new passport along with pictures for the passport.....nothing else.

They processed the passport in about 3 weeks....got the birth certificate and divorce decree back as well.

 

[ibcrazie4dizney]

ok, thank you. my daughter and I thought we might have a prob getting it, but they told us at the place were we applied, sometimes they go thru and sometimes they don't. so we tried. daughters came back approved as normal, but dgd's came back for more info and we had to do aliitle more paperwork, now waiting to hear again. I do understand some children need protection and this is why they are hard to get in some situations, but it will really stink if they wont give her one so we can go on some different vacations.

 

[Meredisney]

This reminds me of a special I saw about Royal Caribbean on tv. I remember they wouldn't let the kids on the ship because the mom (with new husband) didn't have permission.

 

[abja09]

I took my son on the Disney Dream in March. I am divorced and did not need any form to take him on the cruise. I spoke with DCL and was told minor authorization form is only for children traveling without their family.

 

[TXDCLfan]

My son is divorced and his kids will be traveling with our whole family to the Bahamas on the Dream next week. He does not need anything from his ex-wife giving him permission to take the kids out of the country (joint custody). If they needed passports though, both parents would have to appear together to apply for passports for the kids.

There is a form that you can down load from the Goverment web site and have notarized so only one parent needs to be present

 

[Illini_Fan]

I took my son on the Disney Dream in March. I am divorced and did not need any form to take him on the cruise. I spoke with DCL and was told minor authorization form is only for children traveling without their family.

The forms are less about what Disney needs/wants and more about what immigration officials might ask for. My oldest is an adult now, but I remember doing a fair amount of research 8-10 years ago about this. From my understanding of the issue, it boils down to protecting children from abduction. See the US State Department link. http://www.travel.state.gov/abduction/

 

[RockinMama]

Is there anything extra you need to do/bring if the other parent is deceased?

 

[ktb2002]

Is there anything extra you need to do/bring if the other parent is deceased?

I am a widow and have cruised 4 times now since my husbands passing. My son and I both have passports, but I still carry my husbands death certificate and sons BC just in case. I have not been asked for it yet, but I would rather have it than be denied boarding.

 

[RockinMama]

I am a widow and have cruised 4 times now since my husbands passing. My son and I both have passports, but I still carry my husbands death certificate and sons BC just in case. I have not been asked for it yet, but I would rather have it than be denied boarding.

Thank you so much for the info!

 

[Meredisney]

This reminds me of a special I saw about Royal Caribbean on tv. I remember they wouldn't let the kids on the ship because the mom (with new husband) didn't have permission.

I finally saw this special again tonight!
It was on Discovery Family and it's called Extreme Cruise Ship. It was about the Oasis of the Seas.

Basically there was a that child didn't have the same last name as the mother and they didn't bring a birth certificate. They had to contact the child's father to get a letter of permission.

There are actually SEVERAL situations addressed during this special.

 

[bumbershoot]

If I were cruising without DH I would bring a notarized letter from him. If he and I were divorced I would absolutely bring it.

We had a fun experience at Heathrow following him on a work trip this summer; he had gone on a work-paid flight (much more direct and expensive than ours) and we got in around 12 hours later. At Heathrow I was asked things like...where's my husband, what do I do for a living, if I'm a homemaker where did I get the money for this trip, and so on. He finally stopped the questions (which felt super-aggressive if a British accent can sound aggressive) when we answered the "where is the child's father" question with "he's already here". Whew. I had totally forgotten to get him to write out a notarized letter, and although the questions weren't painful, they did delay us when we were very very close to missing our flight thanks to Heathrow being approximately 50 miles long LOL.

Notarized letters from non-traveling parents are a good thing.

I only supplied her birth certificate and divorce decree stating that I had sole parental custody of my daughter.

I paid the fees associated with a new passport along with pictures for the passport.....nothing else.

You say "nothing else", but you supplied the absolutely positively NEEDED info to them, the divorce decree with the legal info that you had sole custody. Without that, it would have been kicked back.

if you don't mind me asking, did you need to supply documents for the passport? we are in the process of getting one for dgd and application was returned for more info, so we are waiting again to see if it goes thru. but since there is no contact or even knowledge of his whereabouts, we are unable to get anything signed. we are just really hoping it will go thru just so we don't have any problems on the cruise....

ok, thank you. my daughter and I thought we might have a prob getting it, but they told us at the place were we applied, sometimes they go thru and sometimes they don't. so we tried. daughters came back approved as normal, but dgd's came back for more info and we had to do aliitle more paperwork, now waiting to hear again....

Did you guys read through the passports for minors section on the State Department website? It's pretty clear what is needed. They have a whole section that basically reads "if you have this situation, you need this; if you can't do that, you need this other thing; if you don't have that, you need something else" and so on.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/under-16.html

Both parents/guardians must appear in person with the minor and provide consent, authorizing passport issuance to the minor.

If one parent/guardian is unable to appear in person, then the DS-11 application must be accompanied by a signed, notarized Form DS-3053: Statement of Consent from the non-applying parent/guardian.

If the minor only has one parent/guardian, evidence of sole authority to apply for the minor must be submitted with the application in the form of a:

U.S. or foreign birth certificate, Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or adoption decree, listing only the applying parent
Court order granting sole legal custody to the applying parent (unless child’s travel is restricted by that order)
Court order specifically permitting applying parent’s travel with the child
Judicial declaration of incompetence of the non-applying parent
Death certificate of the non-applying parent

If the minor has two parents/guardians, but one is absent and cannot be located to provide parental consent in a timely manner, the applying parent must submit Form DS-5525: Statement of Exigent/Special Family Circumstances.

The statement must explain in detail the non-applying parent's or guardian’s unavailability and recent efforts made to contact the non-applying parent. The applying parent also may be required to provide evidence (e.g., custody order, incarceration order, restraining order) to document his/her claim of exigent or special circumstances. To protect against international parental child abduction, the Passport Agency processing the application may ask for additional details if the statement is determined to be insufficient.

If both parents or guardians are unavailable, a third party may apply for a passport for the minor with a signed, notarized written statement or affidavit from both parents or guardians authorizing a third party to apply for the minor. Each statement must be accompanied by a photocopy of the parents' or guardians' identification. When the statement of affidavit is from only one parent/guardian, the third party must present evidence of sole custody of the authorizing parent/guardian.

Hope that helps.

Is there anything extra you need to do/bring if the other parent is deceased?

Bring the death certificate. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[princesspwrhr]

I spoke with DCL and was told minor authorization form is only for children traveling without their family.

And even then you might not be asked. lol We had this form because one of my daughters' best friends was traveling home with us. Her family joined us on the cruise, but they flew in/out and she drove with us. DCL, customs... no one even questioned anything. It may be because she had a passport, or it may just be the agents we had. We did feel better knowing we had it though.