I wonder if there are some fathers who find themselves in a position similar to mine.
I have married a French woman, and am now seperated (divorce process ongoing). We have a son of 3 years old, and some kind of sharedcustody: I have my son every other weekend + 1 fixed day a week. We currently both live (seperately) in Antibes.
What would happen if my ex wife would decide to live abroad ? up till now I don't get consistent feedback about what would happen if I would decide to take legal steps in case she does that.
which "scenario" would you think is most likely to happen:
1) a judge won't focus on the question whether or not she has the right to go to another country... because she fundamentally does (as anindividual). he will just focus on the question what would be in the best interest of our son, *given the fact* that his mother lives thereand there under these and these circumstances, and the father lives there and there under these and these circumstances. Based on that he would then deicide who would get custody.
2) a judge would decide that the mother does not have the right to take the child abroad, thus taking it away from the father. It would beconsidered as some kind of "kidnapping"
3) any other ?
My ex has not indicated today that she actually plans to move abroad, but she could do so in the future. I try to anticipate what I could do in that case. I want to avoid at all cost a legal process if I know that the outcome will be that I loose. On the other side, I cannot just sit and wait for what she is going to do non ?
thanks for your views

some kind of shared custody? Court Ordered?

Are you an EU citizen? They could take away your residence permit if not married and it would be you moving away.

But, I think the lady, just like you, can do, go anywhere she wants. You would still have the visiting rights, but where-ever she is.

till death do us part???????

Well the above post was helpful.....

Do you know on where she is planning to move abroad to? Where are you from? I have seen a couple of lawyers who advertise on A.I giving 1 hr free service to expats from the UK, if thats where you are from. Also maybe try contacting the consulate of your country to see if they can give some correct advice.

As far as I am aware she cannot just go and live abroad, but it will depend on many things.

Oh by the way Floridian if you had read the article, it states he was married and his divorce ongoing....

As far as I understand it (having witnessed at close hand this type of situation), as long as there is no formal document in place, either party is free to take the child wherever and whenever they want.
You could draw up an agreement yourselves and get it officially recognised. You would need to find a lawyer if you haven't already, to advise you. Same sort of thing as people do in a pre-nup type arrangement between the two adults.
I'm not sure from your post if you have actively started divorce proceedings or are just preparing to do so. If it's the latter than I would make haste and start them properly so that you can have a preliminary Court Order until things have been properly decided. I think it's safe to say that any preliminary order would state that neither party can remove the child from France without the other's consent. If you don't have an official document in place saying this, then she can effectively go where and when she wants.
There are, over here of course, these famous "main courants" where you can register your concerns, but frankly, they don't do much good in a case like yours as they leave a trace at the Commissariat but they don't give you any more real power than anything else if your wife were to decide to do a moonlight flit.
It's also important that you can show that you are supporting your son (or maybe your wife as well?) financially. That would have some bearing.
My advice to you would to be to at least start properly divorce proceedings so that you can have the official document mentioned above put in place. Good luck with it all. I've been there too...

p,s, I still can't get my ex-husband (after FOUR years divorced) to let me have access to my youngest children's passports despite the fact that it's French law that whichever parent has the child physically in their care at any given time, must also have that child's identity document (in this case passports). The only way I'll get them is to plan a trip! Do you think that the police were helpful? Non! They just told me to get double passports! Here you have to have everything in a document, in black and white, otherwise you cannot always be sure that even if it is the law of the land that you can enforce it.

thanks very much for your reaction !
I am from the Netherlands so EU citizen. My son has French and Dutch nationality. Indeed, I think in the end all that counts is that we're EU citizen, although I guess we do have to deal with French court if time comes. The custody is not yet formalized since we have not formally divorced yet (we are waiting for our house to be sold). We have just arranged it between us (anticipating the scenario that would probably come out of we were to agree in front of a court). And as long as we're both living in Antibes it goes fine but what if that changes :-/
thanks again