Here We Go Again....Consent Form

[Soonerbaby]

I know pretty much all I need to know about the consent form because we got one from DH's ex for our cruise last October, it wasn't easy, but we did it. Now, we want to take another cruise and of course the ex is finding reasons not to sign the consent form. Last year it was pirates, this time it was tsunami at first, now its the drug violence in Mexico, which by the way is no where near Cozumel. :p Anyway, we are good to go in every way, I checked with the US State Dept about going without the letter and our joint custody agreement only calls for notification of leaving the state, so we are find there too. I made some phone calls though to get clarification on other issues that seemed to have quite a bit of ambiguity attached to them. Carnival (2 different reps) told me that they do NOT require a consent from the other parent, but Mexico does, and may ask for it. Here's where it gets sticky - knowing the ex like I do, I called Galveston port authority and explained to them all of the areas in which we were perfectly legal in taking our child on this cruise, BUT, what if she called the police at the port authority causing a stink? They informed me that at that point, if we did not have the consent form, we would not be allowed to board. However, unless there was a need for anyone to see it, noone should ask for it. We do not trust that she won't do this, so we are going to see about getting a court order so we don't have to mess with her silliness anymore. My question is, has anyone ever had to get the court order before? Did you have to modify the whole custody agreement or just file a petition for the vacation? I am waiting on these same answers from our attorney, just thought I might get some quicker answers here.

 

Thanks in advance for your responses. I will be glad, as always, when this part is over. Planning the cruise is 1/2 the fun for me! :D

[tef43]

My question is, has anyone ever had to get the court order before?

Yes.

Did you have to modify the whole custody agreement

That is what I did, so that I would not have to deal with it every single year.

 

Money well spent, and watching her being grilled by the judge to explain her (non-existent) objections was ... PRICELESS!

[Soonerbaby]

Ok, I called the port authority again to day and spoke to the Seargeant in charge for clarification. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that she could stop him from getting on the ship with just a phone call compared to all the legal documents we have. Plus, I called our attorney and we would have to modify our custody agreement, and it is really expensive and exhausing. Anyway, in all this experience, here is what I have learned:

 

• Carnival does not require a letter of consent from the absent parent.
  
• Mexico does (although they do not always ask for it).
  
• The absent parent must have a court order to stop us from taking him.
  
• The US has no exit requirements, meaning, no letter, etc is required from the absent parent in order to take the child out of the country.
  

I was so relieved to learn these things and wanted to pass them on because like I said, the answers on this subject are so vast. I hope this helps other.