Speaking of passports...

[teacher98]

So after all of this talk of Sean Goldman and passports, I started wondering a few things.  My DH was asked about 2 years back by BM to meet her at the post office and sign for a passport. She was getting married on a cruise and SS was going.  DH told her to just give him a time to meet her. Well, things were a little rough at that time and she ended up getting really mad at DH.  She never brought up the issue again and we just figured that she didn't get one since the passport rules had not changed at that time.  Well SS gets back from the cruise and is excited about his passport. He talked about going to the post office and getting his photo taken.  Hmmmm....  How did she get a passport without DH signing for it?  DH has an updated birth cert after paternity testing was done, however, she still has the old one.  Could she have obtained a passport with this b.c. that does not list DH?  Even though this was 2 years ago, could this be something against her in a court situation if and when we need to go to change the parenting plan? 

[ocean]

I just looked it up too....If one parent has SOLE custody then they can sign off with the court orders. So this only applies to Joint custody where they would need both signatures...

[teacher98]

I looked at the info online too and I read that as well. DH has joint legal with sole physical going to BM. The thing is I think she either 1. knew she needed DH to sign and just worked the system showing that the court order shows her with the residential custody or 2. someone processing the passport at the post office didn't do their due dilegence to check all the paper work.

[bloom6372]

What did their court order say at the time she did all this? If it said joint legal, then she couldn't get it without your DH's signature. If that's the case, I would contact the Department of Travel (or whatever it's called) and see if they have a copy of the application on file. If so, you will be able to see if she used the old birth certificate or if she forged your DH's signature. You could definitely use it in Court if she forged it, even if just to show her character.

[Davy]

Amazing !!   

1)  Encourages rather than prevents child abduction including stranger abduction.

2)  Government clerical workers intrepreting  custody orders.   


I applied for a passport once and attempted to renew son's passport.  Can't remember why but I seem to recall they would not allow me to renew son's passport... I had all the docs.  Since son and I were traveling together to visit older son they forced me to enter his mother's info... so the communication became a little dicey...no a lot dicey....

I made a cell phone call in front of the clerk and asked my responsible adult  28yo son if he remembered his mother's name.

[Everyside]

I have sole custody of my two children.  We go on a trip to Mexico every other year.  I've had all kinds of trouble no matter how prepared I am with all my paperwork.

My favorite (sarcasm) was when I showed the flight attendant at the gate my custody paperwork.  It showed me as having sole legal and physical custody and bio-dad paying child support.  The flight attendant said "If he is paying child support, he has some custody so you need his notarized signature."

"No, I have full custody as shown right here in the official court paperwork"

"Well, I don't think that's fair.  He should have custody if he's paying support.  You'll have to talk to my supervisor."

What the hell?  Why in the hell does your opinion matter at all flight attendant?!??!   Luckily, the supervisor said "Have a nice flight" as soon as she saw my paperwork and we were the last folks loaded on the plane.


My other favorite was trying to get back into the states from Mexico.  After giving them all the paperwork (two different divorces between us and three different custody situations with his, mine and ours children) we ended up with a huge crowd of Mexican officials speaking rapid Spanish and pointing at us a lot.   Finally, after about 20 minutes, one of the officials came over and said we could go.

When I asked what the problem was so we could avoid it next time she said "Some of them had a hard time believing you were really from the states because you have so many children.  We usually only see Mexican's with that many kids."    I thought she was joking but another offical said the same thing to us.    lol   We only have four kids total.

[teacher98]

Unbelievable!  So let me ask this...if the original birth certificate has only BM listed and NOT DH, could she have used that to obtain the passport even though the court order gives DH joint legal custody and parenting time?

[MomofTwo]

Possibly, but considering it was two years ago, it is highly unlikely this can be used against her in court or for a parenting time change.  It was two years ago, she came back, it was a honeymoon...they aren't a flight risk, the courts are very unlikely to view this as an issue.

[Davy]

Whatever !  The bottom line is that she frauded the federal government in a process designed to protect children thus placing the child at risk.  Standing alone such an act should have serious consequences and one would think a family court would seriously frown on such obnoxious behavior and character.

[MomofTwo]

Whatever. The fact they waited two years to bring it up shows it wasn't an issue.  You don't wait two years if something was that important. I highly doubt family court does anything about it at this juncture.