My daughter is 8 years old and her father has never paid a penny for her and only seen her a handful of times in the last 7 years. Because I have now stopped his access he's threatening court action against me for it. The man can't even maintain a constant stream of contact through emails, leaving months before he emails her. Surely he should be emailing her whether she replies or not. My main concern is the effect its having on her with the broken promises. His most recent offer of a visit that I gave him was easter holidays this year and he never showed up. Claiming he had no money to do so. But has plenty of money to go out etc.
Where do I stand legally and where does he stand? Her birth obviously was registered before 2003 and from my understanding he doesn't automatically have parental rights.

First, since this is a legal issue I've moved it from the Children forum. For future references please take more care in choosing a forum to post under.

Second ANY question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area.

If the father is not listed on the birth certificate, signed an acknowledgment of paternity or been declared the legal father by court order, then he has no legal rights currently. But if he is the father than he has the same rights as any father, the only difference is he has to go to court to enforce those rights.

If he does go to court, unless you can prove he is a danger to your daughter, then he will get visitation. Whether he pays support or not will be treated as a separate matter. If you never went to court for support, then he doesn't owe a penny for support.

I would keep a journal to document all the times you have offered visits and he hasn't come through, in case he does go to court. But if you have not gone to court for child support then you are not doing right by your daughter.

Finally, yes, it does have an affect on a child when a parent doesn't want to be a parent. But at 8 years old, with the proper counseling (which he should be required by court order to pay for) she can deal with the issue.