Passports

[staley7580]

I was wondering how I should go about getting my 5yo son a passport. On the web site it says that I need a notorized form signed by his non-custodial parent stating that I have permission to take him out of the country, or a court order that I have full custody. I dont have a court order, I have a child support order. His father has a habit of disapearing for months at a time, and showing up uot of the blue, so I have no way to contact him. Would the child supprt order work? We live very close to canada, and want to go for a visit. And my DH family lives in Germany, and we havent seen them in a few years, and they have yet to see our DD. It would be nice to get him a passport so we could do these things! Anyhow, if anyone knows, or has any ideas I would appreciate it.

 

[Art Vandalay]

A child support order won't be sufficient. They need an official approval from the non-custodial parent OR an official document stating that the non-custodial parent has no authority. Do you have joint custody or full custody?

 

[staley7580]

We dont have anything throught the courts. He lives with me and sees his dad MAYBE 2 or three times a year. Hmmmm, do we need to go to court about it? I dont even know how to go about that.

 

[staley7580]

bump

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We dont have anything throught the courts. He lives with me and sees his dad MAYBE 2 or three times a year. Hmmmm, do we need to go to court about it? I dont even know how to go about that.

Get a notorized document next time you see him or hire a lawyer and make it official. If I was in your shoes I would sue for full custody. It is in your son't best interest anyway for the future.

 

[autumnbaby9]

I'm wondering the same thing.

The state of Idaho made me give my DD's father joint custody. My DD will be 6 in March and he has never seen her nor tried to invorce his visitation rights. Nor does he pay his child support. I don't know were he lives because he disapeared of the face of the planet, even health and welfare haven't been able to find him.

What are parents suppost to do when the other parent just disapears?

 

[ducklite]

You really should go to court and get full legal and physical custody. Custody and child support are completely different issues.

You'll need to get that notarized letter from your ex everytime you want to take your child out of the country otherwise. It has nothing to do with a passport. To get a passport I believe that you'll need with that court order or both parents must be physically present.

Anne

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I'm wondering the same thing.

The state of Idaho made me give my DD's father joint custody. My DD will be 6 in March and he has never seen her nor tried to invorce his visitation rights. Nor does he pay his child support. I don't know were he lives because he disapeared of the face of the planet, even health and welfare haven't been able to find him.

What are parents suppost to do when the other parent just disapears?

You can go back to court and try and get full custody.

 

[ducklite]

I'm wondering the same thing.

The state of Idaho made me give my DD's father joint custody. My DD will be 6 in March and he has never seen her nor tried to invorce his visitation rights. Nor does he pay his child support. I don't know were he lives because he disapeared of the face of the planet, even health and welfare haven't been able to find him.

What are parents suppost to do when the other parent just disapears?

Petition the court to terminate parental rights. You certainly have a good case. I did that with DS's BF so DH could adopt him. I had to sear out a petition saying he had basically fallen off the face of the earth. The court sent a hearing notice to his last known address, and when he didn't show up, they terminated. It was easy.

Anne

 

[Luv'sTink]

My suggestion would be to get the papers fill them out and have them on hand for the next time you see the biological father.

I am in the same situation as you and I had to have the notarized paper, period. Luckily for us it was not as hard as for you.

I was reading on the passport website and it has a form for someone who cant get authorization

http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds3053/ds3053_846.html
5. STATEMENT OF SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES To be completed by applying parent or guardian when the written consent of the non-applying parent or guardian cannot be obtained

ETA: I was advised by an attorney NOT to go to court for custody, if the biological father was not going to be in the picture, because in the state of WA. unless there is a custody order in place biological father actually has no rights to child unless parents were married.

Also, I am in the process of terminating parental rights right now, with biological fathers full consent and the county is making me hire a social worker to make sure bio father understands what he is doing. It is costing me $100 and hour for the social worker. It is not just that easy.

One more....I have traveled to Canada more times than I can count with my son and have never been asked for a letter from bio father.(which I would not have had) I am not saying it cant happen because it did happen to a friend years ago.

 

[barkley]

We dont have anything throught the courts. He lives with me and sees his dad MAYBE 2 or three times a year. Hmmmm, do we need to go to court about it? I dont even know how to go about that.

if no custody order is in effect then the presumption is that the child is under 'joint legal custody'. joint legal trumps joint physical for items like permission to travel out of the country.

you can check with your county clerks office to find out what it takes to file for custody. it's not cut and dry just because dad chooses not to be in regular contact or pay child support-both may carry weight with who gets physical custody but it might not impact who gets to make the legal decisions.

oh, and btw-even without a passport (before the new passport laws went into effect) you needed that notarized letter to travel with a child out of the country (dh and i are married and we live with our kids in the same home-if he chose not to travel with us out of the country i had to have a notarized letter from him in hand). it's part of the laws put in place to prevent international kidnapping by parents. same if the kids went somewhere with grandma subject to those laws-she had to have a letter from both of us.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

your pretty much either going to have to track him down and get him to sign the form -- or go back to court and have a judge give you the legal right to obtain the passport, at least that is my understanding.

My husband has an employee that wanted to take her son on an International trip with their Church Youth group, she hadn't seen the Father in years...and then when she did finally track him down, he refused to sign the form -- pretty much just to be a jerk.

She had to go to court and get full legal custody.

 

[mcgypsy]

DH and I have joint custody and he has refused to sign the consent for me to get a passport for the kids. Is there a Disney cruise that I can take them on after Jan. 2008 that won't require a passport? Do all of the ones stopping in Nassau require that I have one?

 

[DrCavin]

DH and I have joint custody and he has refused to sign the consent for me to get a passport for the kids. Is there a Disney cruise that I can take them on after Jan. 2008 that won't require a passport? Do all of the ones stopping in Nassau require that I have one?

As of now you will need a passport for any DCL cruise beginning Jan 2008. Course they had the same requirement last year & it was moved back...

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Good luck with that, WA state can be strange at times. I've had so much conflicting information at this point. DS' BF is out of the picture, has been since I got pregnant. His birth certificate says father unknown so I wasn't required to provide anything. I was told that WA is a joint custody state that it's really hard to get sole custody or to terminate rights unless there is abandonment.