Father refuses to give copy of children's passport?

Questioner

My ex-husband has the passports of my children (son 12 and 17) I need copies but my ex-husband won't cooperate. What can I do? Can I request copies from the municipality myself? Last year I gave permission to my ex-husband so that he could apply for passports for my children, but I do not receive copies from him and when I ask him he does not respond.

Lawyer

Good afternoon, there is some more information needed, do you really need the copies and not the passports themselves? What do you need them for? Why is your ex refusing to cooperate? If it concerns a trip or registration at a school, a substitute permission can be requested from the court via a procedure. If the court grants substitute permission, the father's permission is no longer required for the trip/registration. If you are a parent with authority, there seems to be no reason why you should not be allowed to have copies of the passports. Depending on the answers to the above questions, perhaps a letter from a lawyer to father could be enough to motivate father to hand over (a copy of) the passports. Yours sincerely, Jolien

Lawyer

If your ex-husband refuses to provide you with the copies, you can hire a lawyer to have a letter sent to him demanding that he provide the copies. The lawyer can remind your ex-husband of his legal obligation to provide you with the copies as the parent of the children. Please note that as a parent you do not automatically have the right to receive copies of your children's passports unless you have a good reason for doing so. For example, if your ex-husband believes that providing you with the copies would endanger the safety of your children, he may not want to cooperate. In that case, you can try to obtain the copies through legal proceedings.