To the best of my knowledge, you do not have to grant him permission to take the kids out of the country.
Yeh, I think you do. Since our separate two plus years ago, when Xh and I have traveled alone with S14, we have carried notarized permissions from the other spouse. I had to produce those on my travels to Alaska and Canada, several times. OTOH, I didn't have to produce them in New Zealand, although I was prepared to.
I'm not sure what the outcome would have been had I not HAD the documents, but the fact that I was asked for them suggests that they are expected.
You can probably google this and find out fairly easy what the source of the legal requirement is.
