Preventing ex from traveling outside country with child

[daisyw28]

I live in North Carolina, and am the mother of a 4-yr-old daughter. I have full custody and my ex-husband has visitation. His family is from Costa Rica, and he wants to take our daughter to visit. She does have a passport but it is in my possession with my contact info. He has threatened on another occassion that if he wanted to keep her from me, I would never see her again. I am afraid he will try to take her out of the country. What can I do to prevent this from happening?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by daisyw28

What can I do to prevent this from happening?

One suggestion.... Take PROOF of his threats to your attorney and ask for a modification of visitation to require SUPERVISED visits.

[daisyw28]

He threatened this during the time we were trying to work out the custody papers, and I reported it to my lawyer at this time. He told me that he would be stupid to try to take her, as he would then be arrested and not see her again, so I had nothing to worry about. As for supervised visitation, he lives with his mother, and she is present during every visit he has with our daughter. My lawyer told me that this counts as supervised visitation.

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by daisyw28

I live in North Carolina, and am the mother of a 4-yr-old daughter. I have full custody and my ex-husband has visitation. His family is from Costa Rica, and he wants to take our daughter to visit. She does have a passport but it is in my possession with my contact info. He has threatened on another occassion that if he wanted to keep her from me, I would never see her again. I am afraid he will try to take her out of the country. What can I do to prevent this from happening?

Without a passport for your child it would be nigh on impossible to leave the country with her.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by Dogmatique

Without a passport for your child it would be nigh on impossible to leave the country with her.

Sorry... but not true!!
Anyone can leave the country without a passport.... all they have to do is to drive or walk across the border.
The passport would only come into play when they RETURN.

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by JETX

Sorry... but not true!!
Anyone can leave the country without a passport.... all they have to do is to drive or walk across the border.
The passport would only come into play when they RETURN.

Poop - yes, you're absolutely right.

For some reason I was thinking of CPIAP. My bad..sorry OP!

[daisyw28]

My original thought was the same, she can't leave without her passport, but JETX is right, she could leave the country without one, it's clearing customs which would be the problem. In which case, she will be in another country with family and I am afraid if she got there I would never get her back. What can I do to make sure he doesn't leave with her?

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by daisyw28

My original thought was the same, she can't leave without her passport, but JETX is right, she could leave the country without one, it's clearing customs which would be the problem. In which case, she will be in another country with family and I am afraid if she got there I would never get her back. What can I do to make sure he doesn't leave with her?

No, it's not....the problem is we don't have immigration exit points in this country. He would have trouble getting back into the US without a passport for her, but not to leave. Having said that, can he enter Cuba without a passport for the child?

(I'll check - was wondering if anyone knew offhand)

Do you have PROOF he's threatening to abscond?

The really bad part (as if this isn't worrying enough, right? ) is that Cuba is not a Hague Convention signatory - if he does take the child without permission you're going to have an incredibly difficult time trying to get her back.

I seriously recommend you seek at least an initial consult with an attorney who is familiar with parental abduction/international family affairs.

[daisyw28]

He wants to take her to Costa Rica, but it is not one of the countries in the Hague Convention, either. I don't have any proof, other than the complaint I filed with my attorney during the custody agreement, that he wants to abscond with her. I am just afraid he might try. I am considering finding a different lawyer, as mine brushed off the issue saying it would be a stupid move on his part. Is there anyone I can/should contact to make sure she doesn't get on a plane?

[CJane]

Ok, I'll admit that I know next to nothing about traveling out of the US with a child, as the last time I did, all it took to get back into the US was the agent at the border taking one look at Wild, and a look at me and realizing that there's no way I could have stolen a Canadian version of Me.

Anyway... doesn't international travel require the notarized signature of the non-traveling parent?

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by daisyw28

He wants to take her to Costa Rica, but it is not one of the countries in the Hague Convention, either. I don't have any proof, other than the complaint I filed with my attorney during the custody agreement, that he wants to abscond with her. I am just afraid he might try. I am considering finding a different lawyer, as mine brushed off the issue saying it would be a stupid move on his part. Is there anyone I can/should contact to make sure she doesn't get on a plane?

I'm sorry, my fingers said "Cuba" but my brain was talking about Costa Rica.

There's literally NOTHING you can do to prevent her from getting on a plane - there may be problems for him in CR at point-of-entry (or not) but as far as leaving the US goes it's virtually impossible to prevent her from leaving the country unless she's within your care 24/7, and that's just not happening.

What is his immigration status here at the moment?

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by CJane

Ok, I'll admit that I know next to nothing about traveling out of the US with a child, as the last time I did, all it took to get back into the US was the agent at the border taking one look at Wild, and a look at me and realizing that there's no way I could have stolen a Canadian version of Me.

Anyway... doesn't international travel require the notarized signature of the non-traveling parent?

No it doesn't; although the acquisition of a passport for the child generally requires permission from the other parent (sole legal custody notwithstanding), actually leaving the country is - perhaps worryingly - quite different and either parent is free to do so without much hassle.

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Why not call the airlines and see what is required to GET ON THE PLANE when traveling internationally?

Seems to me that we all had to have the passports in our hot little hands to have the checking in personnel even let us on the plane.

Now, you could have a stipulation added to your court order on what it would take to allow said child to travel internationally. I just had my court order changed that it requires daddy dearest to provide a notarized statement allowing SweetPea to travel internationally. I also had it state that I could only travel to a country that honours the Hague Adoption Convention. Here is a list of countries that honour it:
http://adoption.state.gov/hague/overview/countries.html

Costa Rica is mentioned.

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by TinkerBelleLuvr

Why not call the airlines and see what is required to GET ON THE PLANE when traveling internationally?

Seems to me that we all had to have the passports in our hot little hands to have the checking in personnel even let us on the plane.

Now, you could have a stipulation added to your court order on what it would take to allow said child to travel internationally. I just had my court order changed that it requires daddy dearest to provide a notarized statement allowing SweetPea to travel internationally. I also had it state that I could only travel to a country that honours the Hague Adoption Convention. Here is a list of countries that honour it:
[url=http://adoption.state.gov/hague/overview/countries.html]Convention Countries[/url]

Costa Rica is mentioned.

How would that be enforced?

A non-US airline who have a hub or affiliate in the US is not obliged to either follow US exit/entry rules or demand proof that the parent has permission to travel with the child. A US-issued court order is not necessarily going to be enforced.

Now when the plane lands and the passengers disembark in the country of destination it may well be a different story...and that's when the Hague Convention really comes into play.

Also there is more than one way to leave the US. As was mentioned we do not have immigration-controlled exit points within the US - if someone happened to skip across down to Mexico, with child, they're going to do so....and from that point the water becomes very muddy.

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Mom mentioned dad is wanting to go to Costa Rica ... It is ONE heck of a drive from North Carolina to Costa Rica. Chances would be pretty good that they would probably fly.