It is interesting that parental alienation is becoming more well known through recent case law.
There was a recent ruling by Mr Justice Keehan following on from a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London whereby a mother told a series of lies about her ex-partner to maliciously try to exclude him from their child’s life.
Mr Justice Keehan had concluded that the mother had lied about being “treated like a prisoner” and threats to kill by the father.
The mother’s behaviour led to the father and child not having any contact for over 3 years.
Mr Justice Keehan, in particular, stated the following in his ruling:
“I regret to conclude that the mother was a most unsatisfactory witness… I find that she lied serially… She had made the most serious allegations against the father… The mother has wrongly and maliciously sought to exclude the father from (their son’s) life.”
It is said that parents make such malicious allegations to simply attempt to exclude the other parent from the child’s life. Whilst some may say, “well, it backfired for her” in this case, due to the mother’s actions, the father and child have not been in contact for many years and the father has no doubt missed out on very important parts of the child’s young life whilst he was growing up. Due to the allegations made and the feeling the mother had towards the father, no doubt this has caused the child emotional harm.
Parental alienation may become apparent very early and it is very important that there is early intervention. Please see the Early Intervention article.
Don’t let this behaviour continue as it could mean that both you and your child miss out on years of a relationship.
This information provided in this article is not intended to constitute legal advice and each relationship breakdown requires careful consideration in our view by a person fully qualified before decisions are made and before you embark on a certain course of action.
Emma Aslett
0207 183 4595