Does a father's right to parental responsibility override a child's (17) right not to want him to have it?

[dragofly]

After years of not seeing her father, or having contact, he stopped paying maintenance as ordered by court. When I went through the CMS they made a ridiculous award of £7.50 a week as they disregarded his large income and capital as he was on a state pension. He has to his credit said he will pay a greater amount which is good, however he is now demanding sight of school reports, gcse results - things he has not previously asked to see and saying that the court would view my behaviour badly for my "vindictive campaign to deny him parental responsibility" I have always provided everything asked in the past, but he never asked -he does not live nearby and has shown no interest at all in his daughter. Now my daughter says she does not want him to have this information about her. As she is 17 I feel I should respect her wishes but don't want to be in contempt of court. He is of a vindictive nature and enjoys legal action for the sake of it so I want to tread carefully.

She cannot prevent him seeing her education records. Under the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 he has the right to get a copy of your daughter's educational record from the school regardless of her views. There is therefore little point in not showing him her reports. Her GCSE results are another matter. Your daughter could request that the school refuses to release her GCSE results to him.

By the way, you would not be in contempt of court just because you withhold information from him. As long as you comply with any court orders you will not be held to be in contempt.

We were married and in the divorce awarded joint custody and I got residence - and after a few years of him making my life miserable and constantly threatening court action if I didn't do exactly what he wanted, he lost interest. Although initially I sent reports and newsletters, when I suggested he requested these from the school himself, he didn't bother and never made any further requests for information, stopped calling and the only contact was a card with his signature at her birthday and Christmas. I think this is going to be an excuse for him to justify not paying a decent amount of maintenance or to start bullying me again rather than any desire to get to know his daughter.

If he has PR then he is entitled to see school reports etc. rather than going through you though he can contact the school directly and obtain them.

Thanks everyone for the advice - he has details of the school.

When is she 18? Is it worth stalling?

When is she 18? Is it worth stalling?

He would still be entitled to the school reports prior to 18.