Travelling abroad with children this summer? Don’t overlook parental consent

With the end of the school year in sight, many parents will be looking forward to summer holidays abroad with their children. For most families, that means the usual practicalities: passports, sun cream, airport transfers and trying to remember which child has packed which charger. But for separated parents, especially where there is any international element to family life, there is another issue that deserves just as much attention before departure: consent.

This is one of those areas where families often assume that a trip described as “just a holiday” is legally straightforward. It may be. But it may not. Taking a child out of the country without the necessary consent can have very serious consequences, and problems often arise not because anyone set out to do the wrong thing, but because assumptions were made, paperwork was left vague, or one parent believed an informal agreement was enough.

There is also an important distinction between a child being taken abroad without the necessary agreement in the first place, and a child who travels lawfully for a holiday or visit but is then not returned as agreed. Both situations can lead to urgent and complex disputes, particularly where more than one country is involved.

That is why clear planning matters so much. In many of the most difficult international children cases, the warning signs were there well before the plane took off and the practical and legal safeguards were simply not dealt with early enough.

Before any international travel is booked, the first issue should always be: who has parental responsibility for this child?

That sounds obvious, but in practice it is often misunderstood. Parents may assume that because the child lives mainly with one of them, that parent can decide about foreign travel alone. In law, that is not necessarily the case. Major decisions about a child’s upbringing and international travel often fall squarely into that category; they should involve everyone with parental responsibility.

Working that out at the outset is important because consent must come from the right people. If the wrong assumption is made about who needs to agree, a parent may find themselves in serious legal difficulty very quickly.

One of the most practical and most important pieces of advice is this: do not rely on a casual exchange of messages and assume that will do.
If consent is being given, it should be clear, specific and recorded in writing. It should set out where the child is travelling, with whom, on what dates, where they will stay, and when and how they will return. It is also sensible to carry documents that help explain the family relationship, particularly where surnames differ.

These are straightforward steps, but they can prevent unnecessary difficulty at the airport and, more importantly, reduce the scope for dispute later.
The key is clarity. When arrangements are vague, later disagreement becomes much easier. If one parent says the trip was agreed for a week and the other says there was no fixed return date, the argument can become complicated very quickly. That is particularly true in retention cases, where the original departure may have been entirely lawful but the failure to return the child on time gives rise to a very different legal issue.

Another common mistake is assuming that an existing court order answers the travel question automatically. Sometimes it does; often it does not.

If there is already a court order in place, it needs to be read carefully before any travel takes place. The wording matters. Any conditions matter. Any restrictions matter. And if there is any doubt, specialist advice should be taken before travel rather than afterwards.

That is particularly important where there is ongoing litigation, recent disagreement, previous threats about relocation, or a family history that spans multiple jurisdictions. In those cases, what might look like a routine holiday on paper can raise much wider concerns in substance.

When one parent refuses consent, the right response is not to take the child abroad and hope the issue can be sorted out later.

If there is a genuine dispute, the court can be asked to decide. These cases are always fact-specific, and the court will want to understand the purpose of the trip, the travel arrangements, the impact on the child, and any concerns about return. The earlier advice is taken, the better prepared a parent will be to present a sensible and child-focused case.

Sometimes the concern goes beyond a disagreement about a holiday. There may be a real fear that a child will be taken abroad without consent or not brought back.

In those cases, acting quickly is critical. Urgent legal steps may be available to prevent removal, and practical action can sometimes also be taken in relation to passports and border alerts. But the effectiveness of any preventative step often depends on timing. Once a child has left the jurisdiction, the legal landscape changes significantly and the situation can become more complex, more urgent and more costly.

International children cases sit at the intersection of family law, jurisdiction, urgency and, often, intense emotion. The legal issues can escalate quickly, particularly where a child has connections to more than one country, where there are competing narratives about consent, or where one parent believes a temporary trip may become a permanent move.

That is why prevention is almost always better than cure. Clear written consent. Proper supporting documents. A shared itinerary. Agreed dates of return. Early legal advice if anything feels uncertain. These may sound like ordinary practical steps, but they can make an extraordinary difference when a situation later comes under scrutiny.

In this area of law, timing is often everything. The questions asked before travel are usually far easier to deal with than the consequences that can follow after departure.

As families prepare for the summer break, it is worth pausing to ask not only can we travel? but also have we addressed consent properly? If the answer is anything less than clear, seeking advice at an early stage is always preferable to trying to resolve an international issue once a child is already overseas. Our specialist team is here to guide families through this complex aspect of co-parenting with clarity, sensitivity and expertise.