Connecticut Parental Alienation Custody Modification to the non-offending parent happens. In fact, a Connecticut divorce judge can (and should) award sole custody to one parent when the other parent engages in parental alienating behaviors.
Here is a summary of a recent, high conflict case.
A psychologist conducted a court ordered psychological evaluation of the parents. It appeared that the mother was encouraging the child to fight with her father. He opined that allowing the child to live with the mother would eliminate the emotional and social progress the child made while residing with the father. He concluded that it would be a “tragic error” to give the mother primary custody.
There were also tape recordings of the mother attempting to estrange the child from the father.
As in most divorce or custody cases involving claims of parental alienation, there are three best interest factors in play:
- The willingness of and the ability of each parent to facilitate encourage a parent-child relationship
- Manipulation or coercive behavior of a parent in an effort to involve the child in the parent’s dispute
- The mental health of all parties.
In many parental alienation cases, supervised visitation is ordered to screen the content of the offending parent’s communication with the child – at least until they finally “get it.” However, in this case, the mother was allowed to have unsupervised parenting time contingent on her remaining in individual therapy and actively supporting the child’s relationship with the father.
In my experience, sometimes intense counseling works such that the offending parent eventually understands how toxic alienation is. If they don’t, visitation should be suspended or closely monitored.
Contact me online or call me in my Stamford office at (203) 356-1475 or in my Fairfield office at (203) 259-5251 to discuss your options concerning a Connecticut Parental Alienation Custody Modification.