Parent Alienation

Parent Alienation

Parental Alienation

Parent alienation has become a more popular claim over the past years. There is no clear definition under Georgia law for parent alienation, but it is a claim is where a party argues the other parent has actively made efforts to manipulate and to harm a child’s mental well-being by making disparaging remarks and/or false claims about the other in an effort to influence the child’s attitudes and feelings about the other parent. The claim of the alienation causes a child to choose a parent over the other, be angry at a parent, or not want to be around the other. No parent should ever engage in any conduct that borders alienation.

While a court will be offended by any parent’s conduct that alienates or attempts to alienate a child, it likewise, does not take lightly the allegation. If a parent makes this allegation, there should be real evidence and perhaps an expert should be consulted to provide such testimony. In many cases, the conduct complained of is not truly alienation, but rather just bad parenting during a difficult situation. One or a few instances of bad parenting choices may still be brought to the court’s attention and can still be harmful to the child, but it falls short of a true alienation. Experienced attorneys can help you determine if the conduct you see should be considered alienation.