Recognizing Parental Alienation and How to Fight it in Court

Fighting for child custody in family court can already be a battlefield of sorts. However, the main goal is to keep any children from the divorcing parents feeling like they are either at fault or having to choose one parent over the other. Even though this is the goal, things do not always work out this way. At the Law Offices of Jef Henninger, Esq., our aggressive child custody lawyers are experienced at handling case of parental alienation between divorced or separated couples. While courts in New Jersey are not known to acknowledge pleas of parental alienation, they do recognize if a parent is filing motions for modified parenting time or custody in a way to interfere with the other parent's time with the child. Both are considered contributing into parental alienation.

But how do you recognize that parental alienation is occurring between you and your child? Parental alienation in general is when one parent deliberately engages in an effort to distance the child from the other parent. There are three types of alienation that are seen in these kinds of cases. Naive alienators are when the parent is being passive about the child's relationship with the other parent, but may occasionally say something or do something that may convince the child to alienate. This is common in divorcing parents as you may say something damaging about your ex-spouse, without realizing the child is hearing what you are saying. Active alienators are parents who are really emotionally upset to the point that they may lose control over their behavior and what they say about the other parent from time to time. While they may feel guilty later on, if the child overhears or sees this type of behavior, the child may start to have fear, anger or hatred towards the other parent to cause such a behavior from the parent, even if it was not intentional.

Obsessed alienators are what most people think of when parental alienation is an issue in a child custody battle. This type of alienator is purposefully trying to cause damage between the other parent's parent-child relationship. While with naive and active alienators there is sometimes a combination of the two types, with obsessed alienators this rarely occurs. These three types are not validated sufficient for litigation and are more for your own personal use and to help describe your situation to your child custody attorney.

Depending on the degree of severity will determine if you do or do not have a case to fight against parental alienation in a court of law. A parent occasionally calling the other parent a derogatory name will not be considered that severe since most children can brush that off. However, if there is a constant barrage of vilification towards the other parent with no justification, and frivolous motions being filed to modify parenting time, the situation is very severe and legal action should be taken.

But how do you know if the relationship between you and your child is suffering due to parental alienation? There are certain signs to take notice of when you do spend time with your child. If your child is exhibiting unfounded anger towards you, repeats vilifying statements the alienator has said, exhibits irrational beliefs, reasoning for the hatred are not based on personal experiences of the child, or if your child expresses desire to cancel visitation with you, parental alienation may be occurring.

If you or a loved one is concerned that the other parent is trying to separate you from your children, contacting a knowledgeable parental alienation lawyer is critical to retain a healthy relationship with your child. Our highly skilled child custody attorneys at the Law Offices of Jef Henninger, Esq., have dealt with numerous high-conflict child custody fights in New Jersey and will help come up with the an aggressive legal defense for you. To see what we can do for you, call our 24/7 hotline at 732-773-2768 and receive a free initial consultation with no obligation to discuss your parental alienation, parental rights and child custody matters.

DCPP and How it Affects New Jersey Child Custody

Over the past couple of years, most DCPP matters were handlded in DCPP court where they were the plaintiff. However, in the state of New Jersey there has been a recent disturbing trend that has been increasingly seen in family court. This trend is when the DCPP receives a report of neglect or abuse, and they do not file a court case against one of the separating parents, but advising the other parent to file an Order to Show Cause to help achieve custody of the child. What this means is that the DCPP backs the other parent, and provides them with advice during the custody trial. The DCPP will right reports and provide them to the court, and can do so without being a party to the case or even showing up! Having the DCPP involved in your child custody trial can lead to a number of issues.

A major issue is that due to this not being an official "DCPP Case" if you have an attorney who is not knowledgeable in how to handle DCPP cases, you could not be properly protected in the courtroom. You may need to fire your current attorney and hire an attorney with the experience of handling DCPP trials.

Once the DCPP is involved, the custody case will function a lot like a DCPP case. This means that you will not have important procedural safe guards. For instance, you will have to fight to get access to the DCPP file, instead of getting automatic access of the entire file. With the case worker not present in the court room, it becomes a challenge to fight the report that is forwarded to the court. Furthermore, the report may only be given to you after you have arrived at the court, giving your lawyer no time to prepare your case.

If the DCPP has entered your child custody trial, you need a lawyer who can properly defend you against these difficult cases. At the Law Offices of Jef Henninger, Esq., our team of tough, smart New Jersey custody lawyers know how to both defend a custody case and a DCPP case. Thus, when the two are put together in these hybrid-like cases, our law firm knows how to fight for our clients. Our lawyers will hold the entire system accountable so that DCPP and the other parent do not push you around. If you or a loved one is concerned about the DCPP or your custody trial, call us now to discuss your case with our 24/7 hotline at 732-773-2768. We provide free initial consultations with no obligation.

Drug and Alcohol Testing in Custody Cases

There are many instances where a parent is addicted to alcohol, prescription drugs, or to illegal drugs such as cocaine or marijuana.  When this occurs and there is a custody dispute between parents, it is most important on the very first visit before a judge in the custody litigation to request drug and alcohol testing, as well as demanding that if the court sees fit to permit limited visitation, that it be exercised under careful supervision.  Sometimes, this must be done during a motion at the outset of the case.

With regard to supervision, you may consider a member of the spouses family to do so if they are responsible grandparents.  If this is not a viable option, there are a number of other options for supervision, with some of these options either run by the court or closely associated with the court.  In any event until the parent admits his addiction and takes steps to enter into treatment, which could include anger management if this behavior is also exhibited, supervised visitation should remain in place. 

If the tables are turned and there is any allegation that you are abused drugs or alcohol, you need to deal with those allegations right away.  Do not think that they will just go away.  Instead, work with your lawyer to come up with a plan to stamp out these allegations right away before they take over the case against you. 

Ocean County Child Custody Lawyers

Appeals of a New Jersey Child Custody Trial

Every litigant has an absolute right of appeal from a decision and order rendered by the trial court. If you disagree with the decision after trial, you can file a document known as a "notice of appeal within 45 days following service upon you or your lawyer of the final order.  If you fail to file an appeal of your custody case within this prescribed period of time may forever bar you from filing an appeal.  You may be able to obtain a 30 day extension for good cause.  Whether you exercise your right of appeal will depend upon your lawyer's assessment of  whether issues of law and fact can be presented to the New Jersey Appellate Division that could result in a reversal or a new trial.  Since the appellate process is expensive (you must  pay the cost of the trial transcript) and attorney fees can be extremely high, this decision should not be made lightly.  In the final analysis what should be considered is the risk to reward ratio...that is the amounts that can be recovered against the cost involved.  Only a New Jersey child custody attorney with substantial experience in the field should be considered.

Monmouth County Divorce Lawyers

Is there computer evidence that is vital to your New Jersey custody case?

It may be common sense that obtaining your spouse's computer, both the individual as well as the business computer, can lead to important financial information. The key information to be found may include records of stock transactions, the balances of stock and bank accounts, record of all transfers made to third parties and business records of all financial transactions.

However, computer evidence may also lead to information that could be vital to your custody case.  While this information may lead to evidence of an affair, that may not always impact the custody fight.  Association with drug users and possession of child pornography, indicia of drug use and other information can break your case wide open.   

If the computer at home is left in a common area, you can hire a forensic expert to copy the hard drive and preserve it as evidence for trial.  With respect to business computers, your lawyer may have to file a motion with the court to have the hard drives impounded until they have been cloned and made available for court inspection.  Of course, that is an extreme situation and other methods of obtaining the date should be explored.  Furthermore, you should not do anything until your New Jersey child custody lawyer has advised you to take action.  Doing anything by yourself could really screw up your case.

Burlington County Child Custody Lawyers

Your First Consultation With a New Jersey Child Custody Attorney

Many clients overlook the importance of a first consultation with their New Jersey Child Custody lawyers.   This is the first opportunity to tell your lawyer everything regarding your financial background and any specific facts that might impact on the outcome of your child custody case.  For example, it would be important to disclose the use of drugs, or any alcohol problems.   Since the discovery process during your divorce (or child custody) case will enable your spouse to determine if any of these facts bearing on your pre marital history, the withholding of this information from your attorney will harm your case when your attorney is in the middle of working on your custody case.  Remember, if you are going to throw mud, you have to be prepared to deflect the mud that is going to be thrown at you.   Moreover, the withholding of any important information including financial data may have a serious negative impact in the division of property and the award made for support.  

Remember that the withholding of important information could form the basis for seeking any agreement reached to be set aside based upon fraud. In addition, your credibility is at stake and the judge can determine that all of your testimony is unbelievable if you are caught in just one lie.  This is called, "false in one, false in all".  Either way, the other attorney will have a field day when it comes to cross examination. 

Atlantic County Child Custody Lawyers

Preparation is key when filing a motion for child custody in New Jersey

Before filing a motion to obtain custody of a child of a child in New Jersey, one must make certain that they have the emotional fortitude to see the case through and sufficient finances to obtain a great New Jersey child custody attorney that has extensive experience in this field.  Preparing a case for trial will entail thorough preparation, which will require you to spend literally days in your lawyer's office preparing testimony, reviewing relevant documentation, and getting you prepared for cross examination.  You do not want a lawyer that is just going to "wing it" at trial. 

Apart from your own preparation, your New Jersey child custody lawyer may have to interview many potential witnesses that might include psychiatrists, school teachers, pediatricians, and other professionals who may have had an impact on the child's life.  Your family members that have helped you raise the child will also be key witnesses.  There is simply no substitute for preparation.  Many child custody lawyers feel that preparation consumes 90% of the time in working on a contested custody dispute, and only 10% in the presentation.  The way you present yourself in the courtroom, and your ability to remove emotions from such testimony, will certainly receive careful consideration from the judge.  Conversely, not answering questions in a clear and cogent manner, or volunteering answers not asked of you, could harm you.  Getting into a fight with the other attorney or even the judge could just be a disaster for your case.  

Essex County Child Custody Attorney