passport in a safe deposit

[helplessDad]

my wife who's been implying to move back to Europe taking my daughter away just told me she had put my daughter's passport in a safe deposit without letting me know. is this legal at all?

is there any legal action I can take?

BTW, I've been tolerating her mental / psychological abuse with her threats to remove my daughter from my life unless we move there, but I'm losing my hope and patience, and sooner or later, we will end up divorcing.

any advise is much appreciated.

[LivedThroughIt]

There's nothing onerous about putting something in a safety deposit box. If you truly concerned that your wife is a flight risk however you should call a lawyer. I am not a lawyer and so can't give legal advice, but I would imagine that the best that could happen is that you would convince the court there's a risk of her leaving and that the court would have your child's passport revoked.

I looked into this myself a while ago and was surprised that there is no mechanism to control or limit this.

Sadly too, even though the law requires that the parent not traveling with a child provide a document called a Travel Consent, I have *never* been asked for one when leaving the country, only when returning to Canada, and even then only about 50% of the time. You can't rely whatsoever on travel consents as protection. Further, I would bet that women are asked for travel consent documents far less often than men are when traveling alone with children.

David Cunningham
ModernFather.com

[malvina]

Here's a good link
International Child Abductions: A Manual for Parents

"If you fear the abduction of your child, you may notify any passport issuing office in Canada (or the nearest Canadian embassy or consulate if you are abroad) to have your child’s name placed on the Passport Control List, a list that puts officials on alert. Before your child’s name is included on this list, you will be asked to provide the names and birth dates of both parents and the child, as well as copies of any custody-related documents."