How to prepare for a Parental Alienation Court Case

Parental Alienation in Court: Dealing with Judicial Anxiety

8/31/2017

Increasingly, even as we become better and being clearer and more precise as to what will help remedy a Parental Alienation court case, it appears to be the case that Judges often hesitate to follow such recommendations.

Very often, the targeted parent will have been accused falsely of being in some way dangerous, unstable or otherwise suspect as a parent. Since the court should always carefully examine any potential danger that such a parent might represent, it should then also recognize that the fact remains that parents are falsely accused of tendencies and acts that are not them.

In cases such as these, where such possibility of danger has been carefully vetted and found to be absent, the court should then act accordingly. Sadly, we find that not to be the case very frequently. I believe that a key reason for this is that the second part of the equation involving false allegations is seldom executed.

What needs to happen - and this is the frequently missing piece - is for the case presentation to say essentially, "not only is this parent not guilty of what they have been accused of being, but what is true is that the other parent has affirmatively attempted to defraud the court" by accusing them as being so.

When this argument is effectively and strongly made, the court's attention shifts from the targeted parent onto the alienating parent.

It is at this point that the lightbulb of insight goes on for the judge and they begin to rule in a more corrective fashion. Absent this step, it appears to me that the judge is left with a lingering suspicion regarding the targeted parent.

Therefore, Parental Alienation case presentation must bring the attention back to the alienating parent in a robust fashion. For reasons that I cannot clearly delineate, many attorney's appear to be uncomfortable with this last step, often citing that they want to remain as the "reasonable one". I believe that this is very often a serious error.

Learn to counter, deflect, and defend against criticisms and misinformation about Parental Alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome by enrolling in the on demand online workshop, "Litigating Family Law Cases with Parental Alienation" click here to learn more and sign up.

Kerrie

9/6/2017 12:05:30 am

I believe my children have been alienated against their mother (me) for more than 3 years. I was not previously aware of alienation and have court hearings next week on this subject matter. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

R o y

9/6/2017 09:41:57 am

This might be true in a few cases but in my case both in Hawaii and West Va the courts were well informed of her alienation as well as her Felonies but they did not care about any of it they were simply motivated by the typical Corruption in the court

Simply Parent link

12/21/2017 09:42:03 am

Michael, thank you for your insight. Simply Parent is a resource and an advocacy body working towards institutional change on behalf of parents and professions facing parental alienation. Given your expertise, let us know if you'd like to be involved in any way, e.g. being a contributor to Parent Survival Guide Magazine (www.SimplyParent.org/ourmagazine), our blog, or advisory groups. We'll be promoting this particular blog in the coming days.

Kate

1/15/2018 07:25:20 pm

Thank you , Simply Parent for your insight on this topic of parent alienation, I left an abusive marriage of 18 years, fought for both of my daughters in in a court where the judge was very bias and curupt. I was granted a restraining order for 3 years , which meant nothing, and trying to find an attorney who would represent you was totally hard to find especially when none of them had any experience in abuse and nor the knowledge of the effects it has on the mother being alienated from her daughters, and the effects it would have on the children, we need to separate cases in which abuse is involved and not treat an abusive case like every case in court, I feel so let down by the court system that occurred in Milford Pa. Attorneys should be more educated as well as judges, I feel totally let down by children and youth as well they failed by not doing their job , and feel totally let down by the detectives in which asked for their help as well, recently I received a phone call from Pa State Trooper which was doing an investigation involving my 2 daughters, needless to say the state trooper informed me that my daughters haven’t seen a doctor, nor a dentist, they didn’t know how to drive and that they were dressed like the omish, when I was leaving the state trooper made a comment no daughters should be without their mother, and their father blocked both their phones from me so I don’t get to talk or see them , it’s now 12 years , still my heartbreaks not being able to see or even hold them and tell them how much I love and miss them both, the pain is heatrenching as a mother, we need to stop this now it’s been going on for far too long now, we need people to hear and listen with an open mind and a open heart to parents who are being alienated by the other parent!!! We need mediators in the courts to pay attention to how abusers manipulate and how they use children in their process, I feel they should stop this parent alienation ,and stop hurting the children in the process. Kate

Lynn Leisa Richardson

4/23/2018 09:47:15 am

Going through this now.
Blindsided by divorce 4 yrs ago and during unexpected divorce realized X has NPD(Narcissitic Personality Disorder). Confirmed by 2 counselors (one therapist that had given us marital counseling, the other had counseled our children after their exposure to their father’s extensive porn collection).
Boys were 9 when divorced happened and we’ve always been extremely close. Factor in that X had manipulated, conned and ended up getting marital home plus not having to pay any child support. Mom has to start completely over and as I do so, the children are given more and more material items and more freedom in the only “home”
they’ve ever known.
They don’t like my rules/consequences. They accuse me of “being rude” to them when they receive punishments.They don’t like having to go back and forth and besides, “it’s just more fun at Dad’s.”
The jackass has manipulated every scenario to his favor. Odds were against me from the moment I said “I do.”
We are going back to court and even if fairness/Justice is upheld I face disciplining 2 teen aged boys completely alone without any backup. I’m emotionally exhausted and pray every day they don’t turn into entitled, selfish sociopaths like their father.

Eric O.

2/22/2019 04:08:09 am

Reliability Analysis of Psych Evals In Custody / Parenting Time:: ( 2/21/2019 ) >>>>> Do you know of any reliability studies on the level of accuracy or reliability for a psychological evaluation used in cases of custody, or parenting time? For example, are certain tests 50% or 80% accurate? Are some tests considered only a certain percentage level of accurate under certain conditions? What can occur if one or more test is not done properly, or if the data used is not reliable? Has any court in USA declared what is a particular set of tests can be considered as a "standard evaluation" in either cases of child custody, parenting time, or regarding children? In seeking answers, some clues and references were found as shown below, but much more information is needed, especially to put in basic terms to highlight within legal cases.

It is highly unlikely that any evaluation is 100% accurate, and some may be completely wrong. So, does any organization, or government agency track mistakes made by evaluations, or by inaccurate conclusions, or by unethical evaluator professionals? If the evaluators and the evaluations are not being reviewed for accuracy, nor for a certain level of reliability, then how can they be viewed as within efforts that are best interests of children? Are there good examples to alternatives to evaluations such as presenting witnesses and evidence for overall mental health of a parent or a child?

For example, from references on testing and reliability concerns, is for a test type called the Minn. Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) which has different versions, and ten (10) clinical scales; but according to the first link [1] below (under references), it is not perfect, and must be "interpreted" by a qualified professional, and a diagnosis should not be made solely on its results. Another example is from the third [3] link below, which states in part, " ... individuals administering tests should understand important psychometric properties, including validity and reliability, as well as factors that could emerge during testing to place either at risk." And another example is from the fourth [4] link below, that states in part, " ... The evaluator must consider the validity and reliability of the data acquired, such as whether or not there were errors in administration that rendered the data invalid, emotional or psychiatric factors that affected the individual's performance, or sufficient effort put forth by the individual on all measures. ... To answer the latter question, administration of performance validity tests (PVTs) as part of the cognitive or neuropsychological evaluation battery can be helpful." And yet another example in the fifth [5] link below, is on a large study that checked for accuracy in psychology findings found that only 39 out of 100 assessments could be replicated, and stated in part, "Don’t trust everything you read in the psychology literature. In fact, two thirds of it should probably be distrusted." <>

IDEA FOR FAMILY RIGHTS: If we can determine some of the best studies and references on issues of errors and reliability percentages for evaluations, then it can help making correct final decisions on legal cases with children.

References: (Below are examples only, and not necessarily endorsed, nor necessarily accurate)

[1] - (9/13/2018) - MMPI https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-minnesota-multiphasic-personality-inventory-2795582

[2] - (2010) - 10 Fallacies in Psychological Assessment by Kenneth S. Pope, Ph.D., ABPP; website of Kenneth Pope, Ph.D. :https://kspope.com/fallacies/assessment.php

[3] - (2015) Chap. 3 - Overview of Psychological Testing, from Psychological Testing in the Service of Disability Determination. Copyright 2015 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK305233/

[4] - (2015) Chap. 5 - Cognitive Tests and Performance Validity Tests, from Psychological Testing in the Service of Disability Determination. Copyright 2015 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK305230/

[5] - (27 Aug 2015) Over half of psychology studies fail reproducibility test, ( Largest replication study to date casts doubt on many published positive results.) by Monya Baker; nature - International weekly journal of science. https://www.nature.com/news/over-half-of-psychology-studies-fail-reproducibility-test-1.18248

[6] - (2018) Preface to the Special Issue: Shared Physical Custody: Recent Research, Advances, and Applications by Linda Nielsen ; Journal of Divorce & Remarriage (2018) http://www.familyaccessfightingforchildrensrights.org/dr-linda-nielsen.html

[7] - (10 May 2018) The Custody Evaluator Meets Hearsay: A Star-Crossed Romance by Timothy M. Tippins* and Lauren K. DeLuca** (*Adjunct Professor of Law, Albany Law School, Albany, New York. ** Partner, LaClair & DeLuca, PLLC, Albany, New York.) ; Vol. 30, 201

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Parental Alienation in Court: Dealing with Judicial Anxiety

J. Michael Bone, PhD.

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