Child custody disputes are often hard-fought and contentious, with each parent lobbing personal attacks against the other to see what sticks when the court renders a determination that it considers to be in the child’s best interests. While some parental shortcomings need to be highlighted for the court so that an informed decision can be made, sometimes the facts are misconstrued and lies are told in hopes of devastating your time and relationship with your child. This is especially true if you’ve been accused of parental alienation.
What is parental alienation?
Parental alienation occurs when one parent manipulates their child to create conflict between the child and their other parent and sever the bond between the two. The parent who engages in the alienating behavior oftentimes relies on the child’s reactions to then seek a custody modification to limit the other parent’s time and access to the child.
While parental alienation is real and can prove detrimental to your child, it’s also an easy issue to fabricate. Therefore, as you navigate your custody case, you may find yourself face-to-face with false accusations of having engaged in parental alienation. What can you do to protect yourself and your child’s best interests in those circumstances?
How to defend against allegations of parental alienation
The good news is that you don’t have to sit back and let the other parent make false allegations against you. Here are some steps you can take to try to beat back accusations of engaging in parental alienation:
- Seek mental health services for your child: A mental health professional who is familiar with parental alienation can evaluate your child to see if they’re truly exhibiting signs of being alienated. This should give you and the court a clear perspective on the issue at hand and can result in compelling testimony about your relationship with your child and how your child views you. This could potentially knock down any allegations of alienating behavior.
- Secure a child custody evaluation: This evaluation is conducted by a neutral third-party and tends to include review of relevant records and observations of parenting time. This leads to an unbiased report and recommendation to the court. If the evaluation doesn’t pick up on indications of parental alienation, then you might be able to effectively beat back the other parent’s accusations.
- Find contradictory evidence: To prove alienation, the other parent might present specific factual evidence. If you can present contradictory evidence, though, then the other parent’s arguments probably aren’t going to hold much weight. So, make sure you understand the evidence the other parent intends to present as far as parental alienation is concerned, then seek out evidence that attacks it.
- Attack the other parent’s reliability: Witness credibility can be crucial to any case. But in the context of parental alienation, it can be especially important. If you can attack the credibility of the other parent’s statements, then you’ll be in a better position to convince the court that their assertions can’t be trusted. So, depose the other parent, look for inconsistent statements, address their motivations to lie and contradict their claims with other evidence.
Don’t let false allegations of parental alienation negatively impact your child
Parental alienation allegations are serious, and you need to treat them as such. Otherwise, your child may be subjected to a child custody outcome that isn’t in their best interests. So, if parental alienation accusations are in play in your case, then you need to get to work developing your legal strategy.