notarized letter for single parents

[CarrianneB]

I am a soon to be divorced father of three young girls. I am stunned and saddened that the vast majority (if not all) of these posts are by Moms. Are any single fathers involved in their children's lives? While I will always have the appropriate docs with me, I also hope that I am given the same courtesy that has been bestowed on everyone here, e.g. not being asked for the docs.

Well, I am not divorced, but my DH had our two boys with his for the 3 day DCL trip to the Bahamas and he didn't have any issues. I didn't even think of this potential issue so I'm glad it was fine. I was originally scheduled to go as well, but had work issues arise. He still went with the boys.

 

[KBT35]

If you have sole legal custody of your children, you do not need the other parents permission to get a passport for your children. Bring the court documents when you apply as they will send the originals with your application and will return them with the passports. Always carry the court documents when you travel as a precaution. I have never been asked to provide any documentation concerning custody on a Disney cruise, but I am always prepared and have passports for both my children. (passports are not required for closed-loop cruises)

Not quite that easy as there aren't any court docs. My DS's father and I were never married thus the law in Georgia where he was born and Alabama (where we now live) state that the mother has sole custody. That said the few times I have had to deal with his father, it also involved the cops (he took him from daycare without my consent and refused to return him, he was on drugs, violent & abusive thus our lack of contact) and they were VERY quick to lump us in the same category as divorcee's and quick to ask me to prove I had sole custody as they were not aware the law stated it. After fighting the cops and going to court I came away with the judge saying there was NO way he would have me spend $$$ for him to sign something stating what is already law. He did however make the call to the police department and educate them to the law and I in turn got an apology from the police department. I did however from that day forth carry the printed law around with me. The problem comes in because he is named on the birth certificate. While every lawyer I have spoken to says I don't need anything from the courts due to it being law but its a constant issue...even his school says that can't keep his father from picking him up JUST because he is named on his birth certificate! My lawyer says if it were to happen they'd get their butts sued quick....such a headache..I just wish the courts would give me something!!

 

[MeLaNie9]

I was just wondering about this as I watched some special about another cruise line last night and they would not let a family on board until the mother's ex-husband faxed a letter saying she could take the kids on the cruise. I am married but did not change my last name, my boys have DH's last name and we are taking a DCL cruise in Aug without DH who will be on a golf trip. I was also wondering if DCL has a standard form for this because DH, who actually made the reservation for our cruise, said he was told we had to have this notarized form/letter - maybe the TA told him this? maybe because of our different last names?
They do have passports, we were both present to obtain them - it seems that most here are saying that will be enough???

 

[cctimmom]

On the one Disney cruise I took with the kids, they never asked... I've done one RCCL cruise with the kids, and was a bit taken aback when they started to question me about custody. I totally understood, but since I had never had any problems traveling with my children, I never thought it to be an issue. xH and I have 50/50 joint custody. Funny enough, on that sailing, xH ended up coming with us, but since he was on a different deck, and checking in on the other side, he wasn't right with us... I just had to point over to him, he waved, and that was the end of that.

I totally forgot about that til seeing this post. Since the kids and I have different last names, I can see why we would "stand out". I'll have to remember to have xH sign something to have "just in case".

 

[cctimmom]

I am a single mother by adoption, which means that legally my daughter has no father. There is a part of the passport application you can complete justifying why the biological father is not available to sign. I read all the stuff and just waited till she passed the age where it was no longer required (13, I think). I found this easier than jumping thru the hoops!

The age is 16... xH and I just went to get the kids' passports renewed (which for children is just having new ones made all together), and we made the mistake of bringing photo copies of their birth certificates... not CERTIFIED copies. We blew an hour of waiting in line to be told the copies weren't good enough, even though we were renewing, because we could have "doctored the photocopies".

I get it... they are protecting the kids... and protecting our rights as their parents... it was just a PITA.

 

[sherpasmom]

Just another report that the letter wasn't asked for on our recent 4-day either. However this trip dd had her passport in her full legal name which has first middle my maiden (last name) and father's last / her last name and I found going through tsa checkpoints much nicer as well.

My understanding is for a closed loop cruise this isn't necessary but I'll always have one whenever she's going out of the country with me.