Re-uniting daughter and mother

My wife has a daughter who is now 13 years old, the daughter that is. When the daughter was born, mother was in a desperate situation so within a few months signed her over to her mother (grandmother) due to mainly financial difficulties. Growing up mother went her own way and rarely had contact with her daughter, they had been re-united on and off in the preceding years, mother went on to have two more children, one living with father, the other one (our daughter) living in the UK with husband (me). The last time mother and daughter were re-united was the middle of last year, spending about two months together.

Now lets move on to the present day, grandmother is playing games, we have been paying for daughters education, but that situation has become a want want want attitude.

Grandmother moved to Bangkok from the country, leaving daughter there (in the village), being 13 alone in the house, but schooling was going ok.

Now grandmother has summoned her to Bangkok, in turn taking her out of school and to a life

of, who knows what.

Daughter is now texting mother begging to let her finish her education.

There is a lot more to the story, but lets leave it at that for now.

Now for some questions put to anybody with similar situations.

We would like to bring daughter to the Uk to live with mother, what is the procedure and what time span are we looking at, remembering at the moment on paper daughter is SISTER!

The hard part is getting grandmother to sign her over to her biological mother.

Any suggestions please.

Ps Mother is on a NTL visa, married to a UK citizen.

You need to clarify this some more, as your post is somewhat confusing. You need to determine the legal status of your wife and her mother regarding the child. Who is listed on the birth certificate as the mother of the child, your wife or your wife's mother and what kind of papers did your wife signed? That determines who has parental rights over the child.

Either there is an incorrect birth certificate or the signed over custody over the child to the mother in which case you have to determine if that paper is legally binding. (Unless done according to the law it is not, and if not your wife can change her mind and take the child at any time).

If the birth certificate is incorrect, that needs to be corrected with proof that your wife is the real mother.

Suggest you consult a lawyer specialized in family law. Recommended are Isaanlawyers/Thailawonline.

Getting custody over the daughter is the first step. Than one can look at getting a visa for her for the UK. For that you can better post in the visa section for other countries.

Totally agree with Mario2008, more information

It should be possible for the mother to re-gain custody even if she legally denounced her guardianship and signed it over to the grand mother in this case. She can have done that according to paragraph 1566(6). IF good evidence that the grand mother is denying the child education exist, then that shouldn't be too difficult. The girl is 13 years old so her wittness account will mean very much indeed.

I bet that the mother never will take her mother the grand mother to court and that the grand mother never will come if she does either. Which will mean that mother eventually regains custody and it is removed from the grand mother.

More info please

Who is the biological father of the 13 year old? If by some chance he is from the UK, it would make bringing the 13 year old to England somewhat easier after mother acquires custody. However, if bio-dad is not from the UK, then as Mario stated, securing a visa to the UK will be the only way.

Good luck to you.