Whether one parent is alienating a child from the other is an important factor to be considered in
change of custody cases for, just as the chancellor noted below, a caring relationship with both parents is essential to a healthy upbringing.
Not exact matches
So before you push back and ask the courts to review your
case one more time (in the hopes
of winning sole
custody), consider the unexpected benefits you can expect to enjoy once you all get used to the
changes brought on by a joint
custody arrangement.
If your request to
change your family's joint
custody holiday schedule comes on top
of five other recent schedule
changes, initiated by you, then you're probably going to have a more difficult time making your
case.
Whether you're recently separated and looking to learn the basics
of types
of custody or you've had an open
case for years that needs modifications due to life
changes, you can find resources here.
In some child
custody and parenting time
cases such, as child mobility,
change of schools, denial
of contact or
changes of child parenting time or decision making powers, a stay
of that order while the appeal is being readied to be heard can be granted.
In
cases where parents have joint legal
custody and one
of those parents desires to
change custody, the burden
of proof falls upon him or her.
The appeals court did note that if a court faces an emergency situation it may make a temporary
change of custody before a hearing is held or before the other parent is notified, but because this was not the
case in this situation the court was required to provide mother notice and an opportunity to present evidence before
changing the child
custody orders.
Along with documenting recent
changes in Tennessee family law, this blog provides
case studies
of various issues that arise in marriage, divorce and
custody cases.
The
case involved a claim by the father that the mother was alienating the affections
of their daughter, and an application to
change the
custody arrangements.
Changes brought about by relocation
of parent may, in given
case, be sufficient to justify
change in
custody; result depends upon circumstances
of each
case.
Family law has been my primary area
of practice for my entire legal career and I am passionate about this area
of law and in keeping current on the
cases, statutes and
changes that affect Indiana divorce,
custody, support and adoption law.
The judge reviewed the law that says a Court must be careful in assessing parental alienation
cases and directing any program
of therapy or
change of custody.
These types
of behaviors may lead to sanctions, a
change of parenting time, or in some
cases, a
change of custody.
Courts can not treat the legal
custody granted by signing an affidavit
of parentage (AOP) the same as a judicial determination
custody; therefore, a party seeking a determination
of custody and parenting time, having only signed an AOP, can not be required, as is the
case when modifying an order
of custody or parenting time, to show proper cause
of a
change in circumstances.
On the facts
of that
case, the court took comfort from that reality as part
of its rationale for allowing a
change to the
custody arrangement.
Yes, the typical recommendations in severe alienation
cases include a
change in
custody to the rejected parent and no contact between the child and alienating parent for a period
of no less than 90 days.
Judicial responses to alienation include: ordering an assessment; ordering supervised access on a permanent basis; intervention in the early stages
of the dispute, before the problem has had time to become «true» alienation, or in the early years
of a child's development;
changing custody on a temporary basis; determining whether «pure» or «mixed» alienation is taking place; keeping the courts involved; suggesting counselling; making a finding
of contempt; making a no - contact order; involving the Children's Aid Society; not making a parallel parenting order; meeting with the children; and in extreme
cases, putting the alienating parent's actions on court record, in hopes that if the child revisits the issue as an adult, they may be able to see what actually took place.
So, in
cases where the custodial parent has the child for a majority
of the time, the non-custodial parent has the burden
of convincing the court that there is a «
change of circumstances» that require the court to award
custody to the non-custodial parent.
In 1999, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation estimated that there were 2.5 million arrests
of juveniles.1 In1997, juvenile courts handled almost 1 800 000 delinquency
cases.2 On an average day, more than 106 000 youth are in
custody in juvenile facilities.3 Almost60 %
of detained youth are African American or Hispanic.3 Moreover, recent
changes in the laws, such as mandatory penalties for drug crimes and lowering the age that juveniles can be tried as adults, have resulted in more juveniles serving time than ever before.
In some
cases, a custodial parent may be required to provide advance notice
of a
change in residence
of the child: «In making an order for
custody, if the court does not consider it inappropriate, the court may specify that a parent shall notify the other parent if the parent plans to
change the residence
of the child for more than 30 days, unless there is prior written agreement to the removal....
In re Marriage
of Ciganovich, supra, 61 Cal.App.3 d 289, a post-Family Law Act
case, cites the predecessor
of section 7501 as support for the «general rule [that] a parent having child
custody is entitled to
change residence [over the other parent's objection] unless the move is detrimental to the child.
In the
case of legal
custody, this tells us who has the right to make legal decisions on behalf
of the children such as who can move them out
of state and who can
change their names.
Some
of the most important
changes include the consideration by the court
of criminal convictions when a parent seeks any form
of custody, specific relocation requirements, standing for grandparents in
custody cases, and the enumeration
of factors the court must consider when determining a child's best interests.
For other
cases holding that proposed relocation requests which would result in the effective termination
of a shared physical custodial arrangement should be treated as a modification
of custody, see, e.g., Lewellyn v. Lewellyn, 351 Ark. 346, 93 S.W. 3d 681 (2002)(both mother and father petitioned for sole
custody of children after mother's proposed relocation would make parties» shared physical custodial arrangement unworkable; court found that mother's relocation constituted material
change of circumstances warranting award
of sole
custody to father, even though such a relocation would not be considered a material
change in circumstances in a
case that did not involve shared physical
custody), and In re Marriage
of Garst, 955 P. 2d 1056 (Colo..
There are now a number
of much better and more recent
case precedents where the court has
changed primary residence or
custody from the alienator to the target parent.
The standard applied in that
case is the standard applied to
changes in
custody, which ultimately is a «best interests
of the child» standard.
Included in my approach to the psychology
of divorce is the study
of how to make life
changes less stressful and how to manage a divorce and
custody case with tools to lessen the severe stresses that a contested divorce involves.
These
changes would create a stronger sense
of equity in divorce and take some
of the sting out
of contested
custody cases.
In this
case, the testimony
of Kristi's efforts to alienate her children from their father and the effect her behavior had on her children supports the trial court's findings that a material
change in circumstances had occurred and the
change in
custody was in the children's best interests.»
Another example
of the ever -
changing system
of family law has to do with the results
of custody cases.
I have had
cases where I pursued and won a
change of custody from a mother who was making false allegations.
The agency's new regime will offer alienating parents an opportunity to
change their behaviour using therapy, but threatens to remove
custody from those who fail, with the possibility
of permanent denial
of access in extreme
cases, the article reports
In one
of these
cases the motivation
of the adolescent was to obtain a
custody change from the current parent to the desired parent.
«[T] here was extensive evidence
of father attempting to alienate Hannah and Hillary from mother that independently supports the court's disposition in this
case [ordering that
custody be
changed from joint
custody to sole legal and physical
custody of mother].»
In three
of the
cases, a
change of custody away from the alienating parent or a strict limitation
of that parent's contact with the child (ren) was implemented by the court system.
The recent
changes to the
custody laws in Pennsylvania aim mainly to get rid
of all
of the old presumptions that are made by the court in child
custody cases.
Most states allow
custody orders to be modified in
cases where a
change in circumstances has occurred since the issuance
of the original order.
I all but forgot about this article but reading it again reminded me how little things have
changed in the managment
of divorce and
custody cases.
In severe
cases, this kind
of behavior could be the basis for
changing custody on the grounds
of parental alienation.
Tags:
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custody case, contested
custody case, contested divorce, divorce attorney, divorce mediation, false allegations
of sexual abuse, false allegations
of sexual abuse in
custody cases, family court, mediation in
custody case, stall tactics in
custody case, status quo in
custody case, temporary restraining order, temporary restraining order in
custody case
In 1997, in the
case of Watson v. Poole, a court in South Carolina indicated that a parent's unsubstantiated and persistent false accusations
of the unfitness
of the child's other parent was a basis for
changing custody.
Conversely, in one Florida appellate
case, a parenting coordinator wrongly claimed that domestic violence had occured when it hadn't, prompting an emergency
change of custody.
the mother in my
case is doing all she can to keep me from my child and keep me from being able to appear in court by trying to get a
change of venue to more then 300 miles away and getting a restraining order all without any justification knowing i have a job here and can't possibly travel that far, also she had our 7 month old child in the courtroom specifically to try to upset me, filing court papers simply to keep a loving parent from their child should be grounds for
custody to be awarded to the other parent for the single purpose
of establishing witch parent will prevent parental alienation
S.C.J.), is an Ontario
case where a dad engaged in an obvious campaign to poison the children against their mom, Justice Nancy Mossip ordered an immediate
change of interim
custody.
A nice post-script to this
case is that when the alienating mother tried to
change custody back to herself pending her appeal to the Supreme Court
of Canada, the Court
of Appeal refused.
Dividing property (some
of which has great sentimental value) and trying to prove your
case for
custody and / or support can be very emotionally charged because these issues underline what is being lost or
changed because
of your divorce.
In these
cases, joint
custody simply does not work because one parent refuses to negotiate or
change their point
of view.