I am involved with a Woman from Ukraine. We are looking into our options about bringing her here and getting married. My question is this, she has a 6 year old son. Father was not in the picture until he found out about me. Now he says he will not allow me to bring his son to the States with his mother. I suspect this is a shake down for money. Still, I am wondering what her rights are? Can she legally take her own son with her? Does she need the fathers consent?
Note: I'm no expert on this, I can tell you only what I've learned.
If the boy's birth certificate lists his father's name, then she needs the father's written permission to take him out of Ukraine. The letter from the father must be very specific, and must be notarized etc., this is a process where services of an attorney are required.
I believe that in the alternative, the father could relinquish his parental rights altogether. Either way, she would need to show the official paperwork when taking her son to another country.
It is not unusual that even totally absent fathers demand money in such a situation. It's not a pretty picture, but that's the way it is.
In your situation, I think I would go with your woman to an attorney experienced in these matters.
Durak...you are right about father's name on birth certificate, my xgf told me her daughters BC only listed her name when i asked if there was any trouble taking child out of country.
Husker, you have several choices...you can offer the father a sum of money to sign waiver papers, you can threaten to take him to court to get back child support payments or take him to court to get mother sole possession of child( if father has not been around for child in years). Consult a good ukrainian attorney for all matters, this is important along with patience.
durak and beemer are correct in this. obviously, the quickest way is to payoff the father but it could get expensive. I had the same situation back in 2008 just after my divorce was final. I chose the court path with paying for the attorney but in the end, she had lied about the father's involvement. she had been the one who moved to kherson from kiev to get away from him instead of what she said which was he went to kiev and disappeared.
a good attorney isnt so expensive by american standards but make sure you know the truth up front. depending upon the city, you may be asked to pay the judge.
be sure you can prove he hasnt been around for at least a couple years and owes child support he will be liable for. could be if he thinks its going to be expensive and doesnt really care about the child he will cave. average cost in these situations? 5-10 grand which normally includes paying the father.