A lot of parental alienation cases are reduced to he-said, she-said situations, with each parent making allegations against the other. Although you may be able to support your position with extrinsic evidence and the testimony of mental health professionals, your child’s other parent is likely going to do the same.
Therefore, if your case is headed to court, then you need to be prepared to attack witness credibility so that the judge will give that witness’s testimony less weight. This may be the key to success in your case, which is why you need to devote the appropriate amount of time to preparing this aspect of your case.
How do you attack credibility?
Much of your attacks here are going to be against your child other parent. With that in mind, consider gathering evidence that shows the following:
- The parent is lying
- The parent has motivation to lie
- The parent has engaged in behavior and the child is exhibiting behavior that is indicative of coaching
- The child’s accusations are false or are based on false beliefs
But where does this evidence come from? Many places. Look on social media, your emails with the other parent, test messages with that parent and your child, and phone conversations. When you sit down and think about it, there’s probably more evidence at your fingertips than you realize.
Legal maneuvers
There are other legal steps that you can take to attack witness credibility, too, regardless of who the witness is. One option is to depose the witness so that you can lock in his or her statements. That way, if the witness changes his or her story in court, then you can use the transcript of that deposition to contradict the witness and portray him or her as someone whose testimony can’t be trusted. You might also be able to use previous criminal charges and other specific acts that are indicative of a character for untruthfulness.
There are a lot of moving pieces to a parental alienation fight. It can be stressful and overwhelming to say the least. But you can walk into court confident that you’re in the right and that you have strong legal arguments to support your position and your child’s best interests. If you’d like to learn more about how to position yourself for success in these matters, then please continue to browse our website.
