Although your co-parent may have been a terrible spouse, they may still be a good parent to your children. During divorce and its aftermath, both parents must commit to a level of civility when communicating with and about the children.
When parents speak badly about their children’s other parent or falsely accuse them of bad acts, this undermines the children’s relationship with that parent. Learn more below about parental alienation syndrome (PAS) and how it can affect your child’s custody orders.
What is PAS?
PAS has been defined as an ongoing behavior that forms a pattern of one parent systematically alienating a child from their soon-to-be ex or former spouse. They can do that in any number of ways, including the following:
- Falsely accusing them of bad behavior
- Manipulation of situations to paint the other parent in a bad light to the kids
- Restricting contact with the other parent
This establishes a dysfunctional parental relationship where the maligned parent must defend themselves to the family law court.
What does the law say?
In disputed custody cases, the Massachusetts courts take allegations of parental alienation very seriously. Their guiding principle is always to consider the best interests of the children when deciding custody matters.
Judges can award custody to the parent who was the victim of the alienation. They may even order supervised visitation for the parent accused of alienating their children from the kids’ other parent. It’s not a good situation to find yourself in.
Steps you can take
If you are operating under an interim custody order and fear the kids are being damaged by the attempted alienation, you can file a motion to have the case revisited. This also applies post-divorce, as custody modifications become necessary.