Illinois Divorce Lawyer Blog
BLOWBACK FOR DIVORCE POISON! MOTHER JAILED, ORDERED TO PAY $84K, AND STRIPPED OF CUSTODY
Spain is a wonderful place to visit. World-class museums, unique architecture, distinctive cuisine. Welcoming to tourists. But not so hospitable to parents who lodge false abuse accusations to win custody.
In a stunning ruling rarely seen on this side of the Atlantic, a court in Granada ordered a five-year jail term for a mother convicted of filing false sex abuse allegations. She was also ordered to pay 40,000 euros ($42,000) each to the child and her father for the harm caused by the unfounded allegations, which the court found were fabricated in order to secure sole and exclusive custody of the couple’s 9-year-old daughter.
And, in a brutal example of blowback—parents in custody disputes be forewarned—this mother, who subjected her child to unnecessary repeated intrusive examinations as a litigation strategy, was stripped by the court of parental responsibility for ten years.
The court’s ruling described the mother as lying and showing “cunning malice with obsessive overtones.” In other words, severe divorce poison.
The woman filed eight reports of abuse to the police and the courts during a two-year period and took her young daughter to be examined by gynecologists and psychologists on ten separate occasions. None ever found any evidence of the alleged abuse.
Ironically, as other countries move in the direction of taking seriously the serious harm caused by divorce poison (including alienating behavior outside the context of divorce)—offering protection for children and parents damaged by attempts to undermine the child’s relationship with a parent—some U.S. activists are trying very hard to prevent family courts from offering the same type of protection. These activists claim that research on parental alienation is not scientific, and therefore courts should be prohibited from considering evidence and interventions related to parental alienation.
The activists are wrong. Look for an announcement next week on this page about a major article in an American Psychological Association journal showing that the concept of parental alienation rests on a strong and trustworthy foundation of scientific study.
Find more information about the Spanish case here: