I've got an interesting situation, here it goes. My daughter was victim of rape (date/acquantance rape) therefore under father on the birth certificate lists "unknown", the sperm donor (wont give him the privlege of being called father) left the country to avoid prosecution. My assumption I am going on is that if no father is listed then we are safe to assume that so long as my daughter accompanies him then that is sufficient. Does this sound status quo to everyone else??
I suppose ignorance is bliss in my case. My husband got full custody of his daughter and she came to live with us in October of 2004. We all went on a cruise in December of 2004. There were no problems. The mother didn't like it, but we didn't know we needed her permission.
My assumption I am going on is that if no father is listed then we are safe to assume that so long as my daughter accompanies him then that is sufficient. Does this sound status quo to everyone else??
I would say her birth cert saying unkown would be fine. There again my cousin had trouble getting his son into Canada after his wife died. He now carries the Death Cert.
I would call and ask some questions. Better to have an extra piece of paper and now need it than need it and not have it.
I general feeling is on a Cruise it will not matter.
If the husband and his x signed and agreed not to leave county, state, country w/out ones written permission then yes you can get in big trouble. This happened to me. I took my child out of state and i was arrested (for the first time ever) in a day 1/2. Charged w/ a felony. i was held in jail in that state for four days. Waiting to be extradited Sp? back to the other state in which i left. Some how by the grace of god they let me go and turn my on self in. i just wanted to share that with you because it was a nightmare for me and i would hate for you to have to go through that. X's can be tricky when it comes to situations like this. This may not even be your case but if so i hope it can help. GOOD LUCK! BTW it was dismissed after tons of lawyer fees....
Cruisenewbie- I think you answered your own question- If your step son (I assume his last name is the same as your husband's) has a passport with his name on it, Customs NOR Carnival is going to worry about premissions because for all they know you are the childs mother. The "Letter of Permission" would only come into play if he were YOUR son and the last name was different, then they would know to ask for legal gaurdian status. You should not have a problem in your case.
BUT, as Dave suggests, bring a copy of the divorce agreement just in case... but don't show it unless asked (which you won't be)
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I'm a single mom with 4 kids & I share custody with my ex husband--I get them 4 days he gets them 3. I have taken the kids out of the country on 4 separate occasions, and have had him get a letter notarized every time. Not once has anyone asked for it, I just kept it in my file in case they did. (I had read somewhere that I should have that when I took my oldest son on his first cruise in Feb 2005) I would say take the custody papers with you, and like someone else stated she had to give permission for the passport to be issued, that should be as good as saying she can leave the US. They didn't even ask for the notarized letter at the border coming back into the US from Niagara Falls last year, OR when I was traveling with all four kids on the cruise I just came back from. It's good to have just in case when you share custody, but sole custody is sole custody. You don't need her permission for major decisions, you shouldn't need it to take a cruise
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Originally posted by Bem1962:
Guess I am not following why you need permission written, The mother had to give consent for a minor child to obtain a passport, so permission granted,.
Actually, No. The mother did not have to give us permission for his passport. That only applies to children under 14. Over 14 and only one parent has to sign. I'm not sure why we need written permission either, but Carnival has recommended it.
First I have a question, if you'll all have the same last name how did Carnival know it wasn't you'll child together? As far as Carnival should and could have known you were both the parents. The only problem then lies at home with the childs mother saying that you kidnapped the child. The solution to that problem may be resolved be sending the mother a certified letter(or 2,,maybe even 3 letters, no judge will agree that she didn't receive one of them) stating that you are taking the child on a vacation out of the country and if she objects please respond before(date of travel). If no response is received by that date I will assume that it is not a problem. We will be returning on (date). If she returns a letter saying the child can't go at least you'll know where she stands on the matter.
Good luck!!
Deege,
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