ExH wants DD phone back with all the information including messages, emails and WhatsApp access. Can he ask for this?

[hereagain99]

I need help with the legal side of who owns the information that a mobile phone contains. ExH refused to pick DD up from her holiday with us. He has email me saying that DD lives with me from now on. This is a different subject but I think it is important for a bit of background.

DD has a phone contract that her dad pays, tonight he has called and said that as DD isn't using her phone anymore, contract is on his name and he pays for it, he expects the phone to go back to him with all the data, as he has called it, intact so he can have access to her email, messages, contact numbers and WhatsApp messages. He also expects access to any social media that she has.

My understanding is that all the information he is requesting is personal and that he should not have access to it. His argument is that as he pays for the phone contract and it is on his name, becayse DD is a minor, everything belongs to him and he expects me to send him the phone with access to everything.

Is this correct? Any advice much appreciated. Thank you.

Just clear all the data, what could he actually do about it?

That's what I was thinking but I just wanted to.make sure I was not doing anything illegal. Thanks

How old is she?
I wouldn't think he had any legal
Right to access her personal conversations etc at all
Unless there was a safeguarding concern.

The obvious seems to be just delete it?

Sounds like bluster.

If you can get a simillar device, transfer over what's relevant/ important then restore to factory settings.

No details or saved passwords etc ....will be on the phone

What a fucking twat.

Restore the phone to factory settings and return it to him. He's delusional and controlling to think he has any right to the data!

What a ridiculous request, how old is your dd? Not that it really matters here, of course he doesn’t get access like that for no reason.

Is there a reason he doesn’t trust her?

I’d wipe the phone, or surely it’s password protected anyway?

Reset phone to factory settings
Give it back.
Get dd new phone with new number and set her up with new email etc

If she has eg Gmail account she can change her password

Factory reset. Drop down the loo for good measure. Return. And block.

Fuck that shit. Is he always such a bully?

Just reset the phone. There is absolutely no need for him to have access to the data, as he's made himself perfectly clear that he is no longer parenting her.

If it was for supervision purposes, I'd say yes he has as much right as you to check her messages (within reason depending dd age) but just as power move- Nah!

Once it's gone there is very little he can do.

Back her phone up
Reset to factory settings
Hand it back.

Get her new phone and and get everything back for her from the back up.

He sounds like a total bell end.

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/children-and-the-uk-gdpr/what-rights-do-children-have/

Just get her a new sim for her phone and ignore him.

What does he suspect DD of? Is he worried there is something on her phone that incriminates him? Is he hoping there is something on there that incriminates you of something? There's got to be a reason for this weird request.

I agree with PP - back up her content to the cloud and factory reset the phone. Set new passwords on all her accounts just in case.

Check her phone

Change all her passwords and log out on that device remove all backups and cloud access

What a Prince! He wants to be able to spy on his daughter but not parent her? I can't think why he's your ex

I concur, factory settings and return.

On the email he says I should not reset it to factory settings. Her school had to contact social services so there are some safeguarding concerns from when DD lived with him. Probably that's why she is with me now.

Some of you have clearly seen which kind of person he is. That's why I need to make sure that if I reset it to factory setting, which was my first thought, he cannot legally prosecute me for interfering on a phone that has his name although DD uses it.

DD already has a new phone, ExH doesn't have the new number to protect her.

Get her a new phone. Restore the current one to factory settings. There is nothing legal you need to be concerned about deleting anything. You wouldn't believe the hoops police have to jump through to get any data from mobile phone companies and would be related to terrorism. Are you able to get her a new phone?

Just read your update. If you are really worried then restore factory settings and oh no you dropped the phone in water! That happens all the time

If the phone was a gift to dd he's got no right to ask for it back regardless. But yeah wipe it and give it back to save the effort of dealing with such a prick. What's he going to do, really?

Back up the data- he may want to delete things he thinks incriminate him if there were safeguarding concerns
Send him the phone but change all her passwords

Whoops. It is a shame that you reset it back to factory settings when you bought her a new phone. Had you known earlier then you could have discussed it.

Wipe the data and send it through the washing machine 'by accident'

He might own the handset but not the data contained on it

He's a bullying twat and he doesn't own or have any right of access to your daughter's data. Maybe have a look through it yourself and see if there is anything worth getting screenshots of and send that to yourself before you do the factory reset. Oops, you seem to have dropped it and cracked the screen right after you pulled it out of the toilet.