The flights are booked for December 20. Your daughter's passport expired in the spring. The other parent has read your last two texts and hasn't answered either one.

If you share children with someone you're no longer married to, an international trip raises two separate questions. Can your child get a passport? And are you allowed to take the trip? Federal rules answer the first. Your custody order, and sometimes a Family Court judge, answer the second. Getting one doesn't settle the other.

The passport: both parents, if your child is under 16

For a child under 16, federal passport rules require that "both parents or each of the minor's legal guardians, if any," sign the application. That rule is 22 C.F.R. § 51.28(a)(2). In practice, both parents appear with the child, or one parent applies alone and brings the other parent's written, notarized statement of consent.

A parent with sole custody has another route: documentary evidence of sole custody, such as a court order, can stand in for the other parent's consent. But the rule cuts the other way for shared decision-making. Under the same regulation, an order giving the parents joint legal custody, or requiring both parents' or the court's permission for major decisions, is read as requiring both parents' consent. Different rules apply once a child turns 16.

Passport processing takes time, and the holidays are no time to learn that an application is missing a signature. If your child needs a new passport for a December trip, start now.

The trip: read your order before you book

A passport proves citizenship and identity. It is not permission to travel. Whether you may take your child out of the country over the holidays depends first on your custody order or parenting plan. Many orders say something about travel: advance notice, a copy of the itinerary, where the child will stay, how the child will call home, or written consent before leaving the country. If yours does, those terms control. We explain why the order comes first in Holiday Parenting Time in South Carolina: Read Your Order Now.

If your order says nothing about international travel, don't read that silence as permission. Get advice before you buy tickets. Taking or keeping a child out of the country in violation of a custody order can bring consequences that reach well beyond Family Court.

When the other parent won't sign

Sometimes a refusal is real worry. Sometimes it's leverage. Either way, the answer is not to work around it. Ask early and in writing, with the details a worried parent would want: dates, destination, flights, where you'll stay, and how the child will stay in touch. A complete, calm request is easier to agree to, and if it ends up in front of a judge, it reads well.

If the answer is still no, you can ask the Family Court to decide whether the passport may issue or the trip may go forward. Court calendars fill up before the holidays, so a request made in early November has a far better chance of being heard in time than one made the week before Christmas.

When you're the parent who is worried

If your concern is that your child may not come back, South Carolina law gives you tools. The state's Children's Code includes child abduction prevention provisions. A party to a custody determination may petition the court for abduction prevention measures, and a judge may order them on the court's own motion if the evidence establishes "a credible risk of abduction of the child." Those provisions are in S.C. Code § 63-15-620.

The measures listed in S.C. Code § 63-15-660 include an order prohibiting a parent from removing the child "from this State, the United States, or another geographical area without permission of the court or the petitioner's written consent," surrender of the child's passport, and a direction to enroll the child in the State Department's Children's Passport Issuance Alert Program.

That program, known as CPIAP, lets a parent enroll a child who is a U.S. citizen under 18. When a passport application is filed for the child, the State Department's Office of Children's Issues contacts the enrolling parent. It helps, but know its limits. According to the State Department, enrolling "does not stop your child from getting or traveling with a foreign passport," and it does not cancel a passport that already exists. If your child holds dual citizenship, the other country's embassy or consulate is a separate conversation. Our international family law page covers more of what changes when a case crosses borders.

What this means for you

If a holiday trip abroad is in your plans, the time to sort out consent is now, not at the airport. Read your order. Check your child's passport. Put the request in writing. If the other parent won't agree, or if you're the one with real concerns about a trip, a lawyer can tell you which tool fits your situation and how much time it is likely to need.

Stevens Family Law, LLC is devoted exclusively to family law, and our attorneys handle custody and international family law matters in Family Courts across South Carolina. Whether you're planning a trip abroad with your child or worried about one, we can help you work out what your order allows and what needs to happen before the holidays arrive. You can reach us at (864) 598-9172, or start with our consultation form.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Federal passport rules and State Department programs change from time to time; the rules described here are current as of November 2026.