by Travers & Travers | Jul 29, 2021 | Child Custody

You undoubtedly had some valid reasons for choosing to divorce your ex-spouse. Even if your former husband or wife was abusive, mean or uncaring to you during your marriage, though, you may have always believed your kids deserve two involved parents.

While you may have agreed to a joint conservatorship of your kids, you do not have to stand idly by while your ex-spouse actively tries to turn your kids against you. In fact, parental alienation may be grounds for modifying your existing conservatorship arrangement.

What are some signs of parental alienation?

Parental alienation may come in a variety of forms, but it typically involves a pattern of bad behaviors. If your ex-spouse routinely does one or more of the following, you may be a victim of parental alienation:

• Telling your kids negative things about you
• Asking your children to spy on you and report back
• Excluding you from traditional parent-child activities
• Encouraging your kids to despise or distrust you
• Undercutting your authority as a parent

How can you document parental alienation?

Because even good parents occasionally make mistakes, you may want to ignore a single off-handed comment or behavior. Still, if your ex-spouse regularly tries to alienate your kids, keeping a contemporaneous journal probably makes a great deal of sense. With each entry, describe the alienating behavior and document when and how it occurred.

Parental alienation is likely to result in long-term harm to your kids and to you. Ultimately, because parental alienation is not in the best interests of the young ones in your family, you eventually may have to ask a judge to rework your conservatorship order.

For more information about parental alienation and your conservatorship, call us at 832-391-8824 or send us an email today.