Tips for achieving overseas holiday travel with children
One parents wish to take a child overseas for a holiday can cause a lot of concern for the non-travelling parent, if open discussions have not occurred. Disagreements often arise about how much notice should be provided by the travelling parent and what countries the child should be permitted to travel to.If the parents can’t agree, a Court order is required. Usually, the Court will require:
- The travelling parent to provide (2) months notice of the departure date, provide copies of pre-paid return tickets, dates of departure and return to Australia, itinerary from travel agent or airline, contact details for the child whilst overseas including telephone numbers and addresses for all places the child will be staying;
- That the parent holding the passports provide them to the travelling parent no less that (7) days prior to the departure, and that the passports be returned to the other parent after the child’s return to Australia.
It is often ordered that the parties are only permitted to travel to countries which are signatories to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction and travel is not permitted to countries for which the Department of Foreign Affairs has issued serious travel warnings.
Other orders that are often made include, requiring the travelling parent to register the child with the “Smart Traveller” system prior to departure, and requiring full travel insurance for the time the child is outside of Australia.
Each case will be different and dependent on the individual circumstances of the dispute. Parties in a high conflict matter will undoubtedly require more prescriptive orders regarding overseas travel, particularly if one of the parents has family overseas.
The more important matter to consider when negotiating orders regarding overseas travel, are the countries that the children are likely to travel to, and whether those countries are signatories to the Hague Convention.
