Unfortunately during divorce with children there are some situations where one parent will either intentionally or unintentionally attempt to damage the relationship between the child and the other parent. This is often refereed to as parental alienation. As Palm Beach divorce lawyers we often see this type of situation during a less than amicable divorce when there is a dispute regarding custody. Sometimes parents get so involved in the conflict between each other during divorce that they focus more on “winning” than on what is actually best for the child or children involved. This can sometimes be referred to as “brainwashing a child” against you or hostile aggressive parenting.

Some signs that you may be the target of parental alienation include but are not limited to:

• Sudden rejection from your child/children without cause or specific event.
• No specific details about why the child is upset, or very weak and unreasonable reasons.
• The child will have a lack of empathy towards the alienated parent's feelings.
• The child will refuse visitation and/or communication.

Some things you may have noticed or experienced:

• Not being notified or being hindered/prevented from attending school or extra curricular activities for the child/children.
• Having your ex's spouse ask to or attempt to adopt or change the last name of the child/children.
• Giving the child a choice whether or not they want to attend their scheduled visits.
• Attempting to start fights or blow small issues out of proportion in front of the child to make you look bad.
• Preventing communications between you and the child on a regular basis.
• Scheduling events or other special occasions when the child/children would be with you to entice the child to want to stay with the other parent or feel bad for missing the event.

So, if you have been able to relate to any of the above then you may in fact be a victim of PAS (Parental Alienation Syndrome) and in need of our help. We can take your case to court and get more specific time sharing, take your former spouse to court for contempt if there is already an order in place that is being violated and your timesharing or visitation is being withheld, ask the court to appoint a psychologist or social investigator to help identify the parental alienation and recommend a course of action to prevent further psychological abuse to your child/children and help reverse what has already been done. The most important step you can take is the one you are taking right now... looking for help. The faster you take action to help prevent and reverse the “brainwashing” or damage to your child, the better the outcome will be for your family. Please fill out the form below and one of our Board Certified Family Law Attorneys will contact you as soon as possible to discuss your situation.