Hi Mary,
If her husband has a job with a reasonable income then i'd suggest she files for a divorce asap. An attorney can assist her in applying for a reasonable/realistic alimony amount, which the ex might agree to without much fuss. Failing that, the court will settle the alimony question for her, based upon what is known as the trema-norm or his "draagkracht". Basically his income, less living expenses. She and the children will be granted a % of what remains.

She can also apply for subsidised legal assistance under the following conditions :
If she has limited income and her assets ie : profit from the house + her share of savings + shares + value of car etc is not higher than €20 014 (+ a value of €2674 for each child) Further details for rechtsbijstand are available here :
http://bestel.postbus51.nl/content/pdf/06F...7130-141846.pdf

Housing is a tough one. I have a friend in a similar position in a small town. She needs to find somewhere for her and her 4 children, whilst her ex is trying to sell the house out from under her. The only thing she can do is get onto a waiting list with her local housing corporation and refuse to sign any agreement to sell for now. The hypotheek would probably be in his name (if she hasn't been working) so it would seem reasonable that he continue paying that in lieu of allimony in the mean time.

Good luck to your sister ... divorce is a long ugly path to walk down.
cheers
Leanne

Hi,

The majority of children start school here when they turn 4 (even if it is in the middle of the school year.) Officially though your daughter will only be REQUIRED to start school when she turns 5.

For the younger child :
If your child is not going to go into day care (in the case of both parents working) then you can take her to a playgroup (kinderspeelzaal) for 2 or possibly 3 sessions a week. This differs from place to place and could involve morning and/or afternoon sessions. Your daughter would then spend a couple of hours in a structured school-like environment with other children her own age and usually 2 teachers.

When you talk about public schools, i'm assuming you mean the local dutch schools. Whether these schools have a waiting list is very much dependant upon the area you'll be living and the particular school's reputation. Here in the Hague. schools in the *wealthier* neighbourhoods do have waiting lists. I'd suggest putting a request out with Amstelveen in the heading - maybe a parent with local knowledge can fill you in.

Good luck with the move!

Hi Camilla,

You have a number of options re the Australian and Dutch procedures. I'm afraid i haven't researched the EU passport option.

The Dutch options :
1. Add the baby to your husband's passport. (The parents' need to be married or the baby needs to have been officially recognised/erkend by the father)
or
2. Get the baby his/her own NL passport

You'd make the application at your local gemeente. Details of the procedure in the Hague can be found here:
http://www.denhaag.nl/smartsite.html?id=21606

The Australian option is a little more complicated and takes alot longer:
Firstly you'd need to apply for Citizenship by Descent for your baby. The embassy in Berlin would deal with this applicaion .
Forms/info etc here:
http://www.germany.embassy.gov.au/beln/citz_engl.html
You will need to prove your own Australian citizenship at the time of your babies birth, for which you'd need a certificate of citizenship yourself. The NL embassy would handle that application for you, if you've lost yours or never had one.

Only after your chilld is granted citizenship can you apply for a passport.
I wasn't allowed to put my kids on my own passport, and both of them(including the baby) were required to have their own Australian passports. Taking a quick look at the NL embassy site, I can't see any other/new info to the contrary :
http://www.australian-embassy.nl/thag/appschildmin.html

The easiest and quickest would definately be either of the dutch options.
cheers and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy!

yes mommy, i'm sure siptea will be a good girl now and sit down and not say another word

lol ... you going for Forum Chief of Police ?

Actually Emerald ... Siptea has a long history of forum and real-life conflicts and dramas ... some of her own making it seems and others not. You haven't been around here that long, so wouldn't have the insight.

Your comment Siptea of "its just a forum so chill out everyone" ... another joke? like the cancer one? ... two pages back we had to share in your idea of *chilling out* when you called another poster a bitch.

Angry i am not ... bored and somewhat uppity maybe. And anyway i don't have a patio ... its called a stoep here in the city ... and its full of poep.