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What is parental alienation?

Parental alienation is where one parent adversely influences their child in a way that causes the child to develop hostile feelings towards the other parent for no valid reason.

Examples of behaviour that can lead to parental alienation can range from frowning or ignoring the child whenever the other parent is mentioned, to one parent bad mouthing the other parent. Behaviour that can cause parental alienation is in essence, anything that causes the child to perceive the other parent in a negative light, such as one parent encouraging the child to be disrespectful towards or behave badly towards the other parent, lying to the child to make the other parent appear in a negative light or not passing on telephone messages or gifts.

It should be noted that the court has absolute discretion to make any order it sees as necessary when considering the arrangements for children and therefore if the court determines that there has been parental alienation it can make an order to alter the amount of time that the child spends with each parent, or it can in exceptional cases make an order changing which parent the child lives with.

Related FAQs

Who is responsible for planning in the event of an excess of deaths?

In the unfortunate event that there will be a significant number of deaths, planning will fall to the local resilience forum; which includes all relevant local organisations and statutory bodies, who will have prior experience in working in excessive death scenarios.

It is for the coroners to ensure that they are familiar with the local resilience forum plans and discussions required. This will include issues regarding storage capacity and post-mortem examination capacity.

What is a non-molestation order?

A non-molestation order is a form of injunctive relief used when there is harassment / domestic violence within a domestic setting. It is commonly used when you or your children are the victim of domestic violence committed by a partner/ex-partner, but it can also be used if the acts are committed by a relative or by somebody who has had an intimate personal relationship with you. Such domestic violence can take many forms but is typically acts of physical violence, intimidation or harassment as well as more subtle forms such as coercion.

When non-molestation orders are granted, they usually require the perpetrator to stop:

  • Using or threatening violence against you
  • Intimidating, harassing or pestering you
  • Contacting you including in person, by phone, letter or electronic means including social media
  • Damaging or threatening to damage your property and possessions

They also prevent the perpetrator from encouraging somebody else to do these things on their behalf.

In addition, a non-molestation order may prevent the perpetrator from coming within a particular distance of your home or your child’s school

Breaching the order without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence so the perpetrator can be arrested and punished by way of a fine or up to 5 years imprisonment.

I have to pay my ex-spouse monthly spousal maintenance pursuant to a Court Order and I can no longer afford to pay. Can I stop paying?

Maintenance Orders embodied in a Court Order are variable. If you have lost a very large part of your income, then the Courts ought to take that into consideration when looking at a Court Application to reduce or end spousal maintenance payments. The outcome of any Court Application will, however, depend on a number of factors.

Technically, you should not just stop paying or reduce the maintenance payments, as your ex-spouse could then make an Application to Court for enforcement and payment of the arrears. You could ask the Court to forego you having to pay those arrears if you had evidence to prove that you could not make the payments, however, the Court will need to take a fair approach and you should not assume this request will be agreed.

You should first try to negotiate a reduction or termination of the maintenance with your ex-spouse, either directly or through a Solicitor. If this is possible, you should obtain a Court Order reflecting that agreement. Where a sensible compromise cannot be reached, a Court Application may be necessary.

What should I be mindful of in relation to pregnant workers? Is there a right to suspend?

Yes, but as a last resort. In summary, the law requires employers:

  • to assess the workplace risks posed to new or expectant mothers or their babies;
  • to alter the employee’s working conditions or hours of work to avoid any significant risk to them;
  • where it is not reasonable to alter working conditions or hours, or would not avoid the risk, to offer suitable alternative work on terms that are not “substantially less favourable”;
  • where suitable alternative work is not available, or the employee reasonably refuses it, the employer should consider whether it is appropriate to suspend the employee on full pay.
How do I determine contractor status?

You must exercise reasonable care in assessing status and making a status determination, considering what the position would be if the contractor was engaged directly by the end user client instead of via a PSC.

Status is usually determined by looking a number of factors and how they apply to the contractor’s working arrangements. This is a difficult exercise that is usually carried out by employment and tax lawyers and it is full of grey areas. We have a toolkit that can help you navigate this process which Paul will tell you more about at the end of the session.

The key factors used to determine status  are:

  • Control:
    • How much control does the end user client have over the contractor in terms of working arrangements (hours, place of work) and how the work is carried out? Or is the individual contractor able to determine how and when they work and without direct supervision of the end user client?
  • Personal service:
    • Is the contractor required to perform the services personally without the right to send a substitute? If there is a right to appoint a substitute is this subject to end user client approval?
  • Mutuality of obligation:
    • Is the end user client obliged to provide the contractor work with a mutual obligation on the contractor to accept that work?