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Sole Custody - denied passports!!! HUH?

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  • Sole Custody - denied passports!!! HUH?

    Would appreciate some input here.

    Received sole custody of my two kids in 2017. Have gotten NEXUS cards since then with no issue. Went to renew passports and provided final order that shows sole custody/kids living with me and they want my EX to sign. Does this sound normal? I called prior to mailing applications and searched high and low for the right answers before applying and was told no issues. Now it’s the opposite. Any input from anyone in a similar situation in the past?

    Thanks!
    Last edited by vocalfather; 09-16-2020, 11:08 PM.

  • #2
    That’s pretty normal. My partner’s ex has sole custody and he still had to sign for his daughter’s passport.
    When crossing borders you will even want to have a signed letter from your ex stating that he/she is aware of and consents to you taking the kids out of the country. I did this for my daughter when her dad took her on vacation..... apparently some border agents don’t bat an eye but sometimes you get one that starts asking questions- especially if the kids have a different last name than the parent they are travelling with. Better to have all your ducks in a row than to run into disappointment and be turned away at the border.

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    • #3
      Our court order is explicit and says no permission is required of the other parent for me to travel. That goes for signing and other matters too. I’m not so sure this does make sense.

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      • #4
        “No permission required to travel” can be interpreted as just not needing a note to cross borders. Passports can be a different story. Unless there is something in your order that explicitly mentions your ex not having to sign the kids’ passports you might be out of luck.
        If your ex is difficult and refuses to sign the passport without good reason then you can file a motion and have that taken care of fairly quickly. If they are concerned that you are going to be taking the kids out of the country during a global pandemic and pushes back in court you might hit some snags though?

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        • #5
          Your order needs to state explicitly that the parental signature is not required for a passport. Passport Canada is doing the right thing and its the proper procedure.

          Ability to travel != ability to get a passport.

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          • #6
            It's all how it is stipulated in the Court Order. Mine says I don't need ex permission or signature to obtain passports and I don't need his permission to travel with them outside the country. They are two different permissions. I did get one bitchy lady at passport office who made me fill in his info. She asked in a snarky voice your kids do have a father dont they? I put his name down no problem but my point was I don't have address or phone number for him since he is homeless. I told her this and it did make her shut up for a second but then said put his last known address. Like that helped. Never forget that miserable lady.

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            • #7
              Does a provincial court even have jurisdiction?

              BC case law from 2007 suggests that provincial courts cannot order the Passport Office around, see paragraph 17 in the judgement below:
              https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/0...07bcsc1623.htm

              If the above is to be relied upon, it suggests an order to dispense with the ex's signature on a passport application would have to come from the Federal Court.

              Paragraph 30 of this BC judgement seems to contradict the above, but that judgement as a whole does not deal with the passport signature issue, so it's not clear. I would be interested in seeing a judgement specifically on a motion to dispense with a parent's signature on a passport application.

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              • #8
                My order says that my ex’s signature and consent for passports and travel is dispensed with.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Stillbreathing View Post
                  My order says that my ex’s signature and consent for passports and travel is dispensed with.
                  I assume you're able to get passports with that order and that it's not from some weird Federal Court.

                  How did you manage to get the order? Did your ex misbehave in some way related to passports?

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                  • #10
                    My ex is brain damaged. I left him because he assaulted the kids. He has been inconsistent with his supervised access. He tried refusing any contact with them for two years to see if that would work to give him unsupervised access. It didn’t. He got another supervised access order but this time with only a few hours at a time to reintroduce the kids but he refused to exercise his access. Then after another 6 months he got an order for another social work assessment/intervention and supervised access at a relative’s home. He showed up this time but the kids refused to speak to him or he would get into heated arguments with them and the relative would have to separate them. He would tell the kids he didn’t assault them, not taking into consideration that they were present when he assaulted them...duh...and the remembered every detail.
                    There are also neuropsychology reports in which the psychologist quoted him when he says sometimes the kids make him so angry he can’t control himself.
                    It’s a long, long story but in the end, especially as the kids are all now older, this is the order I got. Visitation is now up to the kids. I have forced them to call him on special occasions but he does not reciprocate and does not reach out. One of the kids had been hospitalized, I told him but he hasn’t called to find out how they are doing and it’s been 3 years since they were discharged from hospital. He now has somebody managing his money but he really needs a public guardian and litigation guardian as his memory is toast, he confabulates ( a brain injury thing) and I don’t believe he has the mental capacity to instruct a lawyer. It’s an extremely tragic situation.

                    Comment

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