ok so here goes... i have 2 children by my ex husband who is dominican. the oldest is 4 next month and the youngest is 2 in june. we are living in the dominican have been since july and he is in england fighting to stay on the grounds that his children are british and live there even though they dont anymore. hes had no contact with them since youngest was 6wks old and before that he was just seeing them cos he thought it would help him to be able to stay in england. is there anyway in which i can relieve him of parental responsiblity? hes had nothing to do with them for almost 2 years and they dont know or remember him, however he will not give it up willingly as he thinks they can help him to stay in england. also am i able to change their surname without his consent? at the moment it is double barrelled but id like them to have just mine. any advise is welcome please. thanks xxx
- Thread starter sarita
- Start date
parental responsibility...where do i stand?
Well I do not think you can erase the name....He is the father, after all.
With the double barreled surname you can just use the last one (yours) to refer to them...but you can't change the facts.
I doubt if he can be denied visiting rights to his children, unless there is fear of violence or other issues...
HB
With the double barreled surname you can just use the last one (yours) to refer to them...but you can't change the facts.
I doubt if he can be denied visiting rights to his children, unless there is fear of violence or other issues...
HB
You are posting in the Legal forum ( DR related) so be more specific as to what you want to happen in the DR.
Am I understanding that you want to take your Dominican husbands rights as a parents from him? Maybe Mr Guzman can answer that one.
As for him fighting to stay in England that's a different topic and one that MR Guzman might not answer.
Am I understanding that you want to take your Dominican husbands rights as a parents from him? Maybe Mr Guzman can answer that one.
As for him fighting to stay in England that's a different topic and one that MR Guzman might not answer.
The only way that you can change their surname is if everyone with parental responsibility gives their consent .....so he would have to agree.
In terms of removing his parental responsibility altogether.....this is something that would need to go to court but the judge would only agree if he were violent or posed some sort of threat to his children.
As for him thinking they will help him stay in England....if he went to England on a spousal visa he can stay for 2 years initially. At the end of those 2 years you need to prove you are still together for him to be able to obtain his permanent residency. If he already has this permanent residency then he can stay with or without children. I am therfore assuming that he has been in England for less than 2 years, you are no longer together, which means he has to go back home when the 2 years are up and he is now fighting to stay on the basis that he has children?? The only way he could stay past the initial 2 years is if he were to apply to switch visa categories. If the children no longer live there there is no way he can stay on those grounds alone.
In terms of removing his parental responsibility altogether.....this is something that would need to go to court but the judge would only agree if he were violent or posed some sort of threat to his children.
As for him thinking they will help him stay in England....if he went to England on a spousal visa he can stay for 2 years initially. At the end of those 2 years you need to prove you are still together for him to be able to obtain his permanent residency. If he already has this permanent residency then he can stay with or without children. I am therfore assuming that he has been in England for less than 2 years, you are no longer together, which means he has to go back home when the 2 years are up and he is now fighting to stay on the basis that he has children?? The only way he could stay past the initial 2 years is if he were to apply to switch visa categories. If the children no longer live there there is no way he can stay on those grounds alone.
If I understand right, the Dominican male in question, fathered and recognized both babies and now lives away from the mother and two kids, who stay in the DR in pursue of obtaining a residence permit in the UK?
Can't his legal custody and thus rights and privileges as a father be revoked here by a family court here based on him having abandoned the family?
Are the mother and the children (evidently they could be double citizen, Dominican too) legal residents of the DR, so that they would fall under the DR jurisdiction as far as family law?
... J-D.
Can't his legal custody and thus rights and privileges as a father be revoked here by a family court here based on him having abandoned the family?
Are the mother and the children (evidently they could be double citizen, Dominican too) legal residents of the DR, so that they would fall under the DR jurisdiction as far as family law?
... J-D.
hi first of all he was on a two year spouse visa and they gave him an extension in order to gain and keep regular contact with the children(he told them he didn't know where we where but at this point and for a while after we where still in england and in the same house and he was still harrasing me on the house phone) He never applied to court for contact or anything like that and in the end i decided to come back as this is where i wanted to be and the children are happy here too. He really doesn't want to come back and i think his hearing date must be close as hes started calling me and telling me how hes going to make me come back to england with the kids, during these phonecalls hes not once asked how either of his kids are as usual. I have a good job here the oldest has been in school since august and the youngest will start nursery at the same school this august coming, my parents also live here so i have family support. Kids have dual citizanship the oldest was born here, both have spent the majority of their life here. What i'm trying to say is that this is where we want to live our lives. He doesn't know the kids hasn't seen them in nearly 2 years and to be honest wouldn't recognize them if they passed him in the street. All he cares about is his paperwork and i think that it's unfair that he has parental rights to them as hes never been a parent just a spermdoner, however i know that out of spite he wont agree to anything that will benifit me or the kids,therefore i'm investigating what options i have without him having to give consent. i hope this all makes sense. thanks xxx
i would not recommend her to do some kind of illegal action, and to sign a paper which states they still live together in england or such would be illegal and could be held against the mother the same than against the father.
the kids have dual citizenship, so they are dominicans, i guess the mother could complain at a family court to be abandonded by the husband/father. is he paying anything for the kids?
check with a divorce lawyer for that.
good luck
Mike
That's what I was thinking.
I don't see how a deadbeat is in a position to demand visitation, citizenship, or anything else.
It seems like she wants him out of their lives so I suppose he could claim that is why he isn't paying.
I think this is a lame argument unless he was paying and then stopped.
I would get a judgment for child support.
It seems like he doesn't want visitation and he would want to avoid paying thereby showing that he is a deadbeat user.
Perhaps he would be willing to give up his parental rights if he knows his wages could be garnished and he could end up in jail.
Since he is basically out of your life now anyways, what exactly are his parental rights?
Good luck.
Since he is such a deadbeat dad, you shouldn't worry so much, and given your yourself are a British Citizen if he should be accepted for residency and get accepted, his wages are likely to be "garnished" at source (depending on the job) by up to 40% and given to you directly through the CSA, I should think that he doesn't really understand how things work there!
Let him see how long he survives before, as Malibook says, he ends up in jail or being deported.....
Unfortunately, your problems may start when he does......
sorry...
I don't think there's an easy answer to this one...
You cannot take the father's last name out of the children's legal names. It will be always part of their names unless: a) a court takes it away as a result of a suit claiming the father was not the real father; or b) the children themselves change their names when they reach legal age.
You mean if registered in the D.R. and according to the D.R. laws, don't you ?????
In the Province of Quebec it is feisible, not easy but feisible. I have seen in the same case : change of last name + lost of parental (father part) authority + alimony for the child (from the father). AS I SAID not easy, not every day but feisible
Under English law it is possible to change the childs surname.....more info here:
The Children's Legal Centre | Parental Responsibility | Can I change my child's surname?
many countries allow the name change(taking out the father's last name) as part of the divorce process.
Mariposa,
i don't see it that problematic that she and her family(her kids and her parents) decided to live here in the father's country, they are divorced, so he will not have much legal ways to pressure her to anything, if he come's back over here again she can sui him to pay for the children.
Mike
Mariposa,
i don't see it that problematic that she and her family(her kids and her parents) decided to live here in the father's country, they are divorced, so he will not have much legal ways to pressure her to anything, if he come's back over here again she can sui him to pay for the children.
Mike
right,
that's an other theme.
would be interested to know how the law here is based on that.
they are divorced, so one of both parents should have the custody(sp?) of the children, right?
let's see who know's about that one.
Mike
that's an other theme.
would be interested to know how the law here is based on that.
they are divorced, so one of both parents should have the custody(sp?) of the children, right?
let's see who know's about that one.
Mike
Don't know either in the D.R. In Canada, the custody and the parental authority are 2 different things, The parent that doesn't have the custody of the child retains his parental authority. As for example, both divorced parents will have to sign to obtain a passport for the child. If one parent refuses to sign, motion to the Court.
Last edited: