Teenage Daughter, dad refusing permission to go on holiday

[Dee1245]

Sorry if I’m posting this in the wrong place I wasn’t sure where would be best

my daughter hasn’t seen her dad for 10+ years, his choice he’s never been bothered with her. However he does pop up online and contacts us on social media from time to time.
He demands to know everything that’s happening in my life, occasionally asks a few questions about my daughter but normally looses interested pretty fast.

He stalks both mine and my partners social media accounts heavily and tends to send messages of Abuse. He used to be very controlling and abusive and his aggression towards me in messages hasn’t changed.

he’s discovered we are due to go on holiday again and has messaged to say I don’t have his permission to take her on holiday and he will get me prosecuted for fraud. I know my self I haven’t done anything wrong and he has nothing to prosecute me with but can he legally cancel my daughters passport without my permission?

for context my daughter is almost 15, we live in Scotland. She has my surname but he is on her birth certificate. I take her away every year with no issues. I got her passport myself, he didn’t sign for it because we don’t know where he lives or have any contact details for him. All I receive is abuse and threats online from him.
is it easy to cancel a child’s passport. Can anybody do it? If he cancels it will I be notified.

sorry this is so long, I’m just stressed with it all.

[atticus]

You may safely call his bluff. He does not have the right to stop you taking your daughter on holiday.

And referring to fraud (for crying out loud!) shows that he is talking cobblers.

[Dee1245]

Can he cancel the passport though without my permission, I have tried to look on line but can’t find an answer. I know he’s lying about charging me however he is pretty controlling and twisted so cancelling a passport just so we couldn’t go is something he would do.

[atticus]

No.

He cannot.

[atticus]

Reading your first post again, it seems to me that you may have grounds to complain to the police that the man is harassing you.

[R0b]

I'm afraid it is not as straight forward as Atticus has mentioned.

I don't know if there are any specific laws in Scotland that apply but certainly in England and Wales (which may also extend to Scotland), you may need the consent of the father to take the child abroad. This applies if:

1. The father's name was on the birth certificate
2. You were married to the father when the child was born
3. The father has a child residence order for the child to reside with him

In those cases you would need to obtain permission as the father is deemed to have parental responsibility (mothers get it automatically). If you have a child residence order from the court that says the child is to reside with you then the father cannot stop you provided you are not out of the country longer than 28 days.

If permission is needed but not given by the father, you can ask the court to grant permission on the basis of the father being unreasonable. Failure to comply would be a criminal offence of child abduction. Again, I'm basing my understanding that the same laws apply to Scotland but my expertise is not in Scottish law and if there are any derogations.