header-logo header-logo

16 June 2023 / Luke Scarratt
Issue: 8029 / Categories: Features , Family , Child law , Divorce
printer mail-detail

Parental alienation: who’s pulling the strings?

126377
Parental alienation has the potential to cause serious harm to families & children: Luke Scarratt discusses the tools at the court’s disposal when it raises its head
  • How the courts are applying the law in relation to parental alienation.
  • What tools the courts have available in these instances.
  • The difficulties in proving parental alienation and the different, often subtle forms it takes.
  • What lawyers, clients and practitioners need to do if parental alienation is alleged.

Upon divorce or the breakdown of a family, the relationship between a child and their parents can often encounter difficulties.

Children may gravitate towards one or the other parent for any number of personal and practical reasons. Conversely, children may become hostile or resistant to their relationship with one parent, possibly seeking to blame them for the breakdown of the marriage or relationship, or motivated by perceived personality flaws. Sadly, there are almost limitless potential ways in which family conflict can cause a breakdown in a child’s relationship with one

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
back-to-top-scroll