Possibly considering relocating overseas

[Sadene]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to get direction but I figured it's better to start somewhere. I'm trying to locate the right place to get information on what is needed in my situation. My current husband and I are considering on moving back to his home country in about 3 years or so. That would put my son at 13/14 years old. He is from a previous marriage so I'm trying to find out what steps we have to go through to see if the courts will allow this relocation. To give a bit of insight the father is not really in his son's life. He hasn't called since last Christmas and can't seem to afford to see his son. (I live in TX he lives in FL).

I am sure many factors are considered by the court on whether this is allowed or not but I am hoping by finding out what is needed now I can plan for the future and determine if the move is worth try or if we will wait till my youngest is out of highschool.

Any direction/insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Kitty C.]

The first hurdle, regardless, is obtaining a passport for the child, and BOTH parents have to sign the application.  And if Dad refuses to sign it because he doesn't want the child to go overseas, it will not be issued.

Really, it makes no difference whether the father sees the child regularly or not.  By moving overseas, you are most certainly making it virtually impossible for them to have any kind of relationship.

[Sadene]

Well we will be working on getting the passport sorted eventually. As it stands we aren't looking to do this for at least 3-4 years. A lot can happen in that timeframe and personally I have no intention of stopping any kind of relationship between my son and his father. His father does that well enough on his own. I've known others to take teens and relocate and I would be more than willing to help the costs of allowing him to see his son on the normal visitations but that would presume he would even try. But from what I've gathered from others I can go back to the court and the mere fact his father still owes backsupport, cannot provide for his son, has no contact with his son (via phone or visitation) and he himself moved states away the moment we divorced may prove in our favor. I plan to go by the rules and courts and have no plans to do otherwise. My main question here was what are the legal procedures needed to be followed if this is the course I do intend to follow.

[Kitty C.]

Well, if you're thinking of waiting 3-4 years, why not just wait until he turns 18, then he can decide for himself if he wants to go?  Saves you a tremendous amount of hassle, stress, money, and time..........

And if you're looking at doing this so far in the future, there's no point is wasting your money going to court now.  They probably won't rule on something that might happen that far into the future.

[Sadene]

We were originally going to wait till he was graduated but my husband (i'm remarried) is wanting to move back to his home country of the UK.  For now we were just trying to get an idea of what options might be available to us. I know in TX the court can take into consideration a child's decision at age 12 on where he/she wants to live. We may still wait and anything we do won't be till closer till we actually decide to go, but we'd hoped to get some idea of what the legal procedures would be if we chose to go earlier than 8 years from now.

[MomofTwo]

All of those things you mentioned (no child support, no calls, no visitation used, him moving away from the child) would all weigh heavily in a relocation request.

Do yourself a huge favor, even if you opt to wait a few years, keep meticulous records of all of those things...how many times Dad calls (keep your phone company records), visitation used, create logs for all of this and keep track of it.  It will make a difference down the road in supporting your request.  If you can show the courts Dad doesn't call, doesn't pay support, doesn't want visitation, ... the courts are more likely to order the relocation.

[Davy]

Most TX courts will likely frown heavily on an international relocation irregardless of other circumstances.   

You might try Floriduh.... the "come on vacation leave on probation" state.

[Sadene]

All of those things you mentioned (no child support, no calls, no visitation used, him moving away from the child) would all weigh heavily in a relocation request.

Do yourself a huge favor, even if you opt to wait a few years, keep meticulous records of all of those things...how many times Dad calls (keep your phone company records), visitation used, create logs for all of this and keep track of it.  It will make a difference down the road in supporting your request.  If you can show the courts Dad doesn't call, doesn't pay support, doesn't want visitation, ... the courts are more likely to order the relocation.

Thanks for the suggestion.  It's easy enough to keep the records since he doesn't really do anything.  We are going to keep a running log with dates etc and will reach out to a lawyer if we end up trying to do so sooner. 

I've found quite a few lawyers that specialize in relocation both in the states and out of so I'll make sure to go with one of those if we go forward.

As for the last post about moving to FL. No way.  That's where the ex is and his temper is not something I want to move closer to. Can we say stalking?

Thank you again for all the suggestions.