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Divorce/separation

Guardianship question

6 replies

TreacleMoon123 · 26/05/2014 19:57

Ex partner is looking for guardianship of the children. I'm wary of signing but know i will probably have to in the end. Is there some way I could stipulate that if something were to happen to me I don't want him having full custody of our children. I would like my parents to have rights to them with regards access etc; could I put this in a will before the guardianship papers are signed?

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foolonthehill · 27/05/2014 11:08

If you have a residence order then you can appoint guardians in the case of your demise.

I am not sure what you mean by your ex partner looking for guardianship? If he is the children's father then he would have (or be able to get) Parental responsibility. If he is not then it is not inevitable that he would be able to force guardianship through unless you as the parent appointed him.

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TreacleMoon123 · 27/05/2014 12:42

We were not married so therefore he is not a legal guardian of our children. Hence why he is looking for it.
I'm not sure what a residence order is?
Sorry I should have said I'm in Ireland.

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foolonthehill · 27/05/2014 23:00

I don;t know what the legal situation is if you are in Southern lreland but in the UK (?maybe not Scotland) then a residence order is made by a judge who gives one parent some rights that sort of "trump" the other parent's rights eg the parent with a residence order does not need the other parents permission to go abroad with the children for a month but the other does. If the parent without the residence order fails to return the children after contact then the police can go and remove them....

In the UK a parent of a child remains a parent with parental responsibility whether of not the parents were married. Maybe different for you?

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TreacleMoon123 · 28/05/2014 00:04

I've made an appointment with a solicitor for Thursday. Hopefully things will become clearer then. Thanks for your help.

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McKenzieFriend · 28/05/2014 16:41

It may be a different terms but in the UK the issue is called 'Parental Responsibility'

If the child is born outside of marriage and he is the father, he can apply for parental responsibility.

the term 'residency' no longer exists in UK law, it changed in April 2004 to 'Child Arrangements'

Hope this helps.

McKenzie Friend Phil