Passport for child - Sole guardianship

greengirl31

Hi all ..
I'm not sure if this is on the right forum or not but Mods feel free to move it if you wish.
I need to get a passport for my daughter as her current one is out of date. Me and the father aren't together and he has no access as he's never looked for any. He pays maintenance (reluctantly) but this is not court enforced - we came to the agreement ourselves. He said he'd sign the form and there was no big drama but that was about 4 months ago now and I still haven't got it back. I wasn't in that much of a rush as we're not going anywhere but I don't like to be without one (you'd never know when I'll win the lotto and want to flit away !!! ) To cut a long story short, he's said he sent it over a week ago but I still haven't got it so God knows where it is. At this stage I'm thinking I'll go down the affidavit route.
Now my understanding of this process was that I swore that I was the sole guardian to a commissioner of oaths, they stamped it and this was sent off with the passport form. I contacted my solicitor about getting this but she's in court so her secretary came back to me and said that I'd need something from the district court to say that I was the sole guardian before the solicitor could sign and stamp the affidavit !! Surely if I got this from the district court it would defeat the purpose of the affidavit ??
Is she making a mistake or am I misunderstanding the situation ??

January

Commissioner of Oaths can also do an affidavit for you, doesn't have to be your solicitor...

sophia25

You don't need any proof from District Court, the secretary may have been confused. You need to swear that you are legally sole guardian and the Dept of Foreign Affairs accept this. It is a legal doc. so it is a criminal offence to lie on affidavit. Just attach the affidavit to the normal application. I've attached a link for the affidavit, hope you win the lotto the week after me and get to go on holiday!!

greengirl31

Thanks for the replies - I thought it was a legal document in itself - the seceratery must be mistaken. I just had a look on golden pages and my solicitor is a commissioner for oaths too. Thing is she's in court for the rest of the week and is off then for 2 weeks holiday. The form might arrive from my ex in the meantime but I'm not hopeful.
Better not do the lotto for a couple of weeks just in case I've no passport :-)

sophia25

Any solicitor will do it for €15 once you have id with you. I would use someone other than my own solicitor as she may invoice you for legal advice rather than just witnessing signature. Get it done and who knows the lotto might just be you!:D

Malee

It depends if you are married to the father or not. If you are not married, the sole guardian affidavit will do. If you are (or were) married you would need a court order dispensing with the fathers consent.

Stench Blossoms

Sorry to hijack this thread.

If a fathers name is on the birthcert does he need to sign anything for the child to get a passport? If not, how does the birth mother go about getting the passport for the child?

greengirl31

HI Stench Blossoms,

My Little girls father's name is on the cert. In this case you can either ask him to sign the passport form or get the affidavit of sole guardianship.

I was never married to my ex so, as malee pointed out, I don't need to go near the courts for anything but if you were married you will.

Still no sign of the form in the post today so I'm going to find a commissioner for Oaths and get it done next week - And buy a lotto ticket :-) Thanks again for your help

Stench Blossoms

One more question about this.

If the father wasn't asked to sign anything and the mother just went ahead and got the affidavit is there anything the father can do?

The father wasn't aware he wasn't a guardian as he assumed since he was on the birthcert he was but it currently seeking guardianship now.

Morag

If he is not a legal guardian then he is not a legal guardian and the mother can get the passport with out him by going the route of the affidavit.

When he becomes a legal guardian then he had to sign the forum the next time a passport is applied for.

Malee

If the fathers name is on the birthcert the passport office would look for his signature, but if he is not married to the mother the mother can use the affidavit and bypass him without a bother. (If he is married to the mother however, she would need to go to the courts for the court order, as mentioned above).
If the fathers name is not on the birth cert he is not seen as any relation to the child and the mother has to use the affidavit.

If an unmarried (or even married) father does not want his child to have a passport without him knowing, and he can prove he is the father (his name is on the birthcert, or through the courts) he can ask the passport office to not issue a passport to his child unless he specifically consents to it.
It will then be up to the passport office to figure out what to do.

K-9

Malee wrote: »

If the fathers name is on the birthcert the passport office would look for his signature, but if he is not married to the mother the mother can use the affidavit and bypass him without a bother. (If he is married to the mother however, she would need to go to the courts for the court order, as mentioned above).
If the fathers name is not on the birth cert he is not seen as any relation to the child and the mother has to use the affidavit.

If an unmarried (or even married) father does not want his child to have a passport without him knowing, and he can prove he is the father (his name is on the birthcert, or through the courts) he can ask the passport office to not issue a passport to his child unless he specifically consents to it.
It will then be up to the passport office to figure out what to do.

An unmarried father who has Guardianship would also have to sign the form.

Dennis

Sharrow wrote: »

If he is not a legal guardian then he is not a legal guardian and the mother can get the passport with out him by going the route of the affidavit.

Only true in part and some of the other posts also leave out an important point.

Should there be any pending application to the court for joint custody or guardianship, or even if the parent knows that an application is in the pipeline, an affidavit is not sufficient.
It is also an offence, punishable by prison, to make a false declaration on an affidavit.

In the case of the OP, as there is already a situation where the usual route is underway, I would suggest that she gets another application form and arranges to meet the father at a guarda station, get it signed up and then retain possession and full control of the application.

Lucyfur

An unmarried father with no guardianship needs to sign the passport from too.

I've recently gone through getting a passport for my son and I have to say, it was tricky and infuriating at times.

My sons father was reported missing over 3 years ago. I was told, (in the same station he was reported missing) to ''find the father or the child would be getting no passport''...I was horrified at the time, I've calmed down now lol. We weren't married and he's had nothing to do with my son for years, yet as he was named on the birth cert, he was needed to sign the form.

Got an affidavit done and passport arrived last week:D

greengirl31

Dennis wrote: »

Should there be any pending application to the court for joint custody or guardianship, or even if the parent knows that an application is in the pipeline, an affidavit is not sufficient.
It is also an offence, punishable by prison, to make a false declaration on an affidavit.

In the case of the OP, as there is already a situation where the usual route is underway, I would suggest that she gets another application form and arranges to meet the father at a guarda station, get it signed up and then retain possession and full control of the application.

Dennis, thanks for this but I'm confused again ...
There is no legal application pending, he's never looked for access or no court orders are in place over maintenance or guardianship. He's said he'll sign the form but he hasn't. But the fact that i've asked him to sign it, does that mean I can't go down the afadavit route. Am i correct in thinking that the afadavit declares that I am the sole guardian which is still the truth ?? But if I was to get this now would i be breaking the law ????

As for arranging to meet him at a garda station - He's too busy to meet me to discuss the maintenance he clearly can't afford so I'd say the chances of a little get together in the Cop Shop are fairly slim ...

livinsane

greengirl31 wrote: »

Dennis, thanks for this but I'm confused again ...
There is no legal application pending, he's never looked for access or no court orders are in place over maintenance or guardianship. He's said he'll sign the form but he hasn't. But the fact that i've asked him to sign it, does that mean I can't go down the afadavit route. Am i correct in thinking that the afadavit declares that I am the sole guardian which is still the truth ?? But if I was to get this now would i be breaking the law ????

As for arranging to meet him at a garda station - He's too busy to meet me to discuss the maintenance he clearly can't afford so I'd say the chances of a little get together in the Cop Shop are fairly slim ...

From what you've said, you can go ahead and get the affidavit signed. If he signs the consent, good and well and you've saved the cost of getting the affidavit witnessed. In the eyes of Irish law, you are the sole legal guardian unless you marry the man, or he seeks out guardianship through the courts.

LegacyUser

Lucyfur wrote: »

An unmarried father with no guardianship needs to sign the passport from too.

I've recently gone through getting a passport for my son and I have to say, it was tricky and infuriating at times.

My sons father was reported missing over 3 years ago. I was told, (in the same station he was reported missing) to ''find the father or the child would be getting no passport''...I was horrified at the time, I've calmed down now lol. We weren't married and he's had nothing to do with my son for years, yet as he was named on the birth cert, he was needed to sign the form.

Got an affidavit done and passport arrived last week:D

Gards regularly give out false info in relation to passports. I hve worked in the passport office for fifteen years now and the number of people who hve been given incorrect info at gard stns still astounds me.

You did not require your childs fathers signature on that application - the gard gave u the wrong information.

K-9

unregistered wrote: »

Gards regularly give out false info in relation to passports. I hve worked in the passport office for fifteen years now and the number of people who hve been given incorrect info at gard stns still astounds me.

You did not require your childs fathers signature on that application - the gard gave u the wrong information.

Indeed, having seen this question asked again and again I think Gardai giving out wrong information is a big cause of the confusion.

Lucyfur

Very true. I was astounded at the guards ignorance to me. My son was also with me at the time and didn't need to hear the guards attitude. However, it's done and dusted now and everything was signed by a lovely, lovely guard who was so nice and understanding about the situation we were in:)