Joint Guardianship timescale?

Xmachina

Hi all,

so it has come to this, a long road ahead by all accounts..

we are going to court.

I highly doubt that the mother of my 4month old daughter will sign the required papers for joint guardianship.

she has told me that she intends to take her away to Portugal and Macedonia come September and there is nothing i can do about it, after numerous comments about how she will make sure i have nothing to do with my daughter and how she will make everything as difficult as possible for me, the thoughts of her taking her to these countries turns my blood cold..

She has contacts in Macedonia and i believe she is more than capable in starting a new life there..

Am i right in saying that unless i obtain joint guardianship i will be powerless as to where in the world my daughter goes?

and if so and i need to go to court to get joint guardianship, how long will this process take?

like if i apply tomorrow, weeks? months?

God i just wanted to stay out of court.

Thanks.

James Jones

Xmachina wrote: »

Am i right in saying that unless i obtain joint guardianship i will be powerless as to where in the world my daughter goes?

It is important that you apply for Guardianship. The application, in itself, will give the Courts jurisdiction. Don't make the same mistake made by the unmarried father HERE.

Ten days before she left Ireland, the father attempted to gain custody through an Irish court, but since the application had not been served on the mother before her departure he was, under Irish law, unable to secure custody.

are you serious

Go to court asap!

It is not as daunting as it sounds, I have been there and through the mill and the advice I would give would be do not be afraid of it!!

If you go in today you'l be in there for about half an hour with the court services explain everything about your situation, and tell them you want to apply for Guardianship and access.

The letter/application will be issued in front of you and you sign it and it will be posted off the day you go in. Then it just takes the time the postman takes to deliver the post for her to get her summons to the court!

The court date however for you application for guardianship/access will not be heard for possibly 2 months but she can not leave the country as there are court proceedings now in progress!

rolly1

I would make an emergency court application tomorrow. The mother is a flight risk , she has told you she will snatch your daughter. She can do so right now. DO NOT HANG AROUND!

Go to the local court office in the morning. Tell them you want to make an emergency court application, do not take no for an answer. Bring a witness and insist on appearing before the judge tomorrow to secure guardianship. You can do it yourself without needing the mother present, it's called an "ex-parte" emergency application. Tell the Judge about her threats to snatch the child. The Judge probably won't grant guardianship but will adjourn the case so as to bring the mother to a later case. But the big thing is the court will then have control of the whole matter and she cannot legally snatch your child, as it would then be classified as the crime of child abduction.

Do not wait around posting court notifications to her and waiting for a hearing etc. all kinds of bs can be claimed e.g. she never got the letter, service was not properly carried out etc. etc. which can forever torment you if she does feck off with the child tomorrow or while you are waiting to go through the normal process.

The best thing you can possibly do is get before a judge asap!!