Last names & Proving Custody

Stella - posted on 10/25/2009

I live in Canada, and we just traveled to the UK and Kenya with our 14 month old son. He has his passport and we all have the same name. We carried his long form birth certificate with both parents' names just in case, but we never got asked for it. Also from experience (a friend), I know there are ways to travel without the consent letter if the father has not signed the birth certificate.

Megan - posted on 08/28/2009

In Canada, if one parent is travelling with a child and leaving their country then YOU MUST have a travel consent signed by the other parent. This is the same if the parents are divorced, or even never married and father is not in the child's life. I know if the father hasn't signed the birth certificate there are ways around it, but i'm not aware of them.

To put it into perspective, me and my son were flying to see my husband in Grenada. When we were leaving Canada I was asked immedicately to show consent from the father. Although we were going to see him, in Grenada, he is not even Canadian, I still was not allowed to take my son from the country without consent. Luckily I had it;)



Oh, and I used to work on cruise ships, it is the same there, you cannot board with a child without 1) both parents there or 2) consent from the missing parent.



Hope this helps

Bianka - posted on 08/27/2009

Quoting Megan:

I have travelled internationally with my son, without my husband. My son is definately darker then myself. I carry our passports (of course), the long form birth certificate holding my signature on it as his mother, and I always have a consent to travel notice signed from my husband (whose signature is also on the long form birth certficate). Because I have all of that I have never had a problem. I thought I was overcautious but when I was leaving Grenada they did ask for proof he was mine so I was pleased I had all of that prepared.

I hear you about the issue in case you don't stay together, I also worried about that while giving my son my husband's last name. But remember, as long as you have the long form birth certificate, it doesn't matter what your child's last name is, you are covered.

Oh yeah, me and my son currently have different last names as well...hasn't been an issue.

Would I HAVE to have a consent to travel from the father if I was leaving the country or no? Because I am from Hungary and I'm sure we'll visit, but who knows if her father will come? Could my daughter leave the country without his consent?

I remember when we came out with my mom, she needed my father's consent even though they were divorced. Would that be the case here in the US as well?

Amber - posted on 08/25/2009

That is great advice from everyone on traveling. I have never even taken the time to think about traveling out of the country and having to prove that your child is yours, but I would believe that the birth certificate is the best way to prove your child is yours in any circumstance. I don't know where you live, but I know when I worked in child protection unless there was a court order stating otherwise then the mother has custody of her children. So I really don't think in the US that you have to prove that you are the custodial parent. I think also that it is very common now for children to have different last names than their mother so I think people are less concerned with the last name.

Ashanta - posted on 08/25/2009

Hi Bianka,

Here in Montreal, Canada, there is actually a law in place that states that when married, the wife cannot take her husbands last name --unless she can prove that there is something “wrong” with her maiden name (strange isn’t it!). Therefore, for the most part, husbands and wives have different last names. It is very common here for children to have both their mother and fathers last names hyphenated( eg: John Smith-Wilson). Perhaps this is something you might want to consider?…this way your child could have your last name as well as his/her fathers.

Because my husband and I both have long last names, we decided that we would spare the children a 25 letter hyphenated last name, and settled on giving them his last name. Thus far, I haven’t experienced any difficulties when traveling into other countries. Like it was mentioned above, as long as you have your baby’s birth certificate (the long version), which indicates both parents’ names on it, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Kathie - posted on 08/24/2009

I have had no problem with any of my kids. I have even traveled to Mexico (with passports but only asked if I was the mother never had to show anything). I haven't ran into any problems locally or in the country with names or anything. Now the father and I are married, so I now have the same last name.

Megan - posted on 08/24/2009

I have travelled internationally with my son, without my husband. My son is definately darker then myself. I carry our passports (of course), the long form birth certificate holding my signature on it as his mother, and I always have a consent to travel notice signed from my husband (whose signature is also on the long form birth certficate). Because I have all of that I have never had a problem. I thought I was overcautious but when I was leaving Grenada they did ask for proof he was mine so I was pleased I had all of that prepared.



I hear you about the issue in case you don't stay together, I also worried about that while giving my son my husband's last name. But remember, as long as you have the long form birth certificate, it doesn't matter what your child's last name is, you are covered.



Oh yeah, me and my son currently have different last names as well...hasn't been an issue.