You are wrong. If you give me something, it is mine, even if you are paying everything for it.
Give, not lend.
If he leant her the phone, it is his
If he gave her the phone, it is hers.
If he is paying for a phone he gave her, the most power he has is to stop paying, upon which the company will cease service to HER phone.
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you ever own real property you “gave” to another party. Period.
It is NOT his phone, so quit saying that. He gave her the phone. It is hers. He did not loan it to her, he gave it to her.
Quit saying it is his phone. It is not. She owns it. It is her phone.
First of all, phones are not “real property”. That refers to land and buildings.
Second, you are just wrong about ownership. If I get 4 phones on a family plan contingent on say 3 years service I’m the owner of those phones. Just because I give them to my minor children doesn’t mean they legally own them. And since I’m legally responsible for the charges made on them, I have a vested interest who has physical possession of it.
Third if the daughter legally owns it, then the mother did steal it when she took it away. You are arguing out of both sides of your mouth. Either the father owns it or the daughter does. Certainly not the mother. If she didn’t want the daughter to have it she should have given it back to the father. I suspect though this was about the father wanting to be able to contact the daughter and visa versa, and the mother not wanting them to do so.
Finally don’t presume to ell me to “quit saying that”. Who the hell do you think you are?