Parental alienation generally means that your ex-spouse has encouraged your children to turn away from you. Some kids find adjusting to a separated family difficult, and feelings of resentment toward a parent are not uncommon. True alienation, however, goes beyond typical childhood emotions because it requires manipulation.
If your ex-spouse begins using your child’s emotions to sabotage his or her relationship with you, you may raise awareness of your concerns with the court.
Fabricated allegations of abuse
An individual may attempt to gain custody or prevent an ex-spouse from obtaining visitation rights by alleging that the other parent is abusive. Researchers, however, have found that a large number of claims are false.
By studying more than 4,000 child custody cases, data revealed that many allegations made during a divorce sought to deliberately frame an ex-spouse through false claims. As noted by Forbes magazine, typical allegations include that a spouse is engaging in violence or sexual abuse.
If your ex-spouse asserts that you are abusive, it may be an attempt to persuade the judge to take away your child custody rights.
Parental alienation in custody disputes
When a parent alleges child abuse in court, the other parent may respond with a claim of alienation. Men who claimed a female parent alienated their children from them ended up with child custody in 44% of the cases studied. Women claiming parental alienation received custody of children from a male parent in 28% of the cases.
Disputes could become lengthy and contentious when you need to gain child custody. It may require an investigation granted through the court’s discovery process to determine whether your ex-spouse has begun sowing seeds of alienation in your children.
