High-conflict divorces are often followed by varying degrees of custodial interference combined with The mother’s refusal to grant the father access to his children is because her children are allegedly at risk of imminent harm. She is keeping them away from their father for their protection. Some mothers will go as far as coercing and intimidating the children into lying about their father.
In instances such as these, a father’s custody rights, his reputation, his finances, and even his freedom are automatically put in jeopardy. It is her word against his.
An accusation of abuse is enough to strip a father of his custody rights and trigger a criminal investigation. Erring on the side of caution, authorities will deny the father access to his children until after the investigation.
The misuse of orders of protection by women when going through a divorce is one of the more prevalent and unfortunate trends in family law. A system that was designed to protect against abuse is itself being abused.
These protective orders are called tactical nuclear weapons by fathers rights attorney and Cordell & Cordell CEO Joseph Cordell. Once the nuclear bomb is dropped, the battle turns into full-on war.
Mr. Cordell made this chilling statement in his column on HuffingtonPost.com:
"A Stop Abusive and Violent Environments report published earlier this year estimated that 85% of protective orders are entered against men. I believe that upwards of 90% of those orders are products of tactical divorce considerations.
In fact, many people are encouraged by their lawyers to seek this protection without cause because of the beneficial position gained by this strategic move. These orders are easy to obtain -- all a woman has to do is say that she is in reasonable fear for her safety. Documented evidence of abuse is not required."
Why are a father's constitutional civil rights abandoned by the judicial system? The burden of proof rests on the accused, when it is supposed to be the state’s burden.
This is especially tragic when you think of how many innocent fathers have permanently been removed from the lives of their children because of false allegations.
In the article "Are There Laws To Protect A Man From An Ex-Wife’s False Report?" there is a case example of a woman serving a 14-year sentence for filing false allegations. Read that story of a man who fought for years against her false allegations and eventually won.
Need To Enforce Your Rights? Contact Cordell & Cordell
Author Julie Garrison has been writing articles and short stories for the past 10 years and has appeared in several magazines and e-zines.
