What could he be up to?

swingaloo

Asking on behalf of my friend. She is divorced and is still living in the family home with the 3 children as agreed by a court order at the time of the divorce.

The father does not see the children who are now all in their early teens. He has almost no contact with my friend either.

Recently he sent a message asking her to let him have a photocopy of a utility bill showing her name for the address of the family home.

He has also asked for copies of the children's birth certificates and passports.

When asked why he needed these things he said it was for 'a check his company needed to make for his job'????? He has been in the job for three and a half years.

She isn't going to provide them to him as it seems a very odd thing for his company to need.

Any ideas what he could be up to to need this kind of info?

elsien

Putting some money somewhere for the children?

swingaloo

The children don't even get Xmas or birthday presents and he has already said they will never see a penny from him.

Even if that was the case why would he need a utility bill to show she was paying the bills at the property?

gettingtheresometime

There’s no way I’d be providing this info.

As far as his company was concerned I’d reply that as we’re now divorced, they should consider us as two people who are no longer legally connected and as the children are minors then the company has no need to carry out checks on them.

Even if the company needed the birth certificates as the children had been listed as beneficiaries of some death in service benefit, as it would only come into play if the ex died there’s no need for the company to have that info now - especially the passports!

DCFC79

If it really were "a check his company needed to make for his job", surely he could get some kind confirmation of this check printed out on headed paper.

Seems an odd combination of info to be asking for, don't provide it.

gettingtheresometime

DCFC79 wrote: »

If it really were "a check his company needed to make for his job", surely he could get some kind confirmation of this check printed out on headed paper.

Seems an odd combination of info to be asking for, don't provide it.

Call me a suspicious cynic but I don’t think I’d even trust that.

Presumably it wouldn’t be at all difficult for him to type up a letter on headed paper ‘requesting’ this information.

trailingspouse

Nothing to stop your friend calling her ex's company direct and checking that it's legit. And if it is, they can put it in writing to her and she can provide the info direct to them.

But I can't imagine why they would need this stuff either.

unholyangel

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Call me a suspicious cynic but I don’t think I’d even trust that.

Presumably it wouldn’t be at all difficult for him to type up a letter on headed paper ‘requesting’ this information.

No but if it was genuinely from the company (particularly if its a national or international company) I would expect it to have contact details for whoever wrote it. Perhaps name, department, extension number & email address.

I'd also expect the letter to give an exact reason for requiring that documentation rather than just a vague "need to run checks".

martinthebandit

Does he work somewhere that needs a security clearance perhaps?

gt568

What is his job?

swingaloo

He works for a national company and is in furniture design.
Its not a new job and does not involve any data protection or cash handling.

I think the thing that she is most concerned about is him wanting a utility bill in her name. She is still in the marital home, he has married again and lives about 100 miles from her. Neither of us can understand it, its as if he is having to prove he does not live at her address by him asking for a document in her name. But she still has his surname so by giving him a utility bill would prove nothing.

He sounds desperate to get these things from her, he has had no contact for ages, doesn't bother with her at all, then loads of texts over the last 24 hours saying he needs them urgently but wont elaborate on the reason.