When we discuss abuse, there are many distinct types, including physical and emotional abuse. Can you withhold parenting time if you think your child has been abused in some way? Is emotional abuse enough to revoke parenting time from my ex?
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It is appropriate to submit a motion to the court. Obtain judicial approval. Don’t try to impose your own ideas on the law. On the other side, you might have a convincing defense. Many people believe that seeking forgiveness is preferable to seeking consent. Prior to taking matters into your own hands, you should request that the court suspend the parenting time.
What Is Emotional Abuse?
A pattern of behavior known as emotional abuse can have a negative impact on a victim’s cognitive, emotional, psychological, or social development. It is also known as psychological abuse. The effects of emotional abuse by a parent, caregiver, or another adult in a position of authority on a child are almost always detrimental and frequently last for the remainder of the child’s life.
According to the University of Michigan Health System, emotional abuse follows a pattern. You are emotionally abused if the other party does the following:
[ a ] says unkind things about you
[ b ] prevents you from making decisions
[ c ] threatens you
[ d ] isolates you from your friends, family, and coworkers.
[ e ] disregards how you feel
[ f ] diminishes you
[ g ] calls you names
[ h ] insults you
[ i ] makes you unable to sleep
[ j ] actions that give you a crazy feeling
[ k ] asserts to you and others that you are insane
[ l ] tells you you make poor decisions
Emotional abuse includes both verbal abuses, such as calling someone names, and terrorizing, which usually involves frightening the child by threatening them with harm or purposely placing them in terrible situations. Long-term neglect of the child may also entail shunning them in front of friends and family, underestimating them as a person, or ignoring their most basic emotional needs.
The court will always take into account one of the twelve factors for assessing the best interest of the child when deciding on custody and parenting time. One of these factors is domestic violence or domestic abuse. It’s not necessary for parents to physically abuse their children. It’s not necessary for children to see it.
For the court to consider domestic violence, it only needs to be present or clearly present. It is imperative to let the judge know about the violence and your concerns.
Numerous studies conducted over the years have shown that emotionally abused children are more prone to engage in undesirable behaviors that worsen as they age, such as routine humiliation, ignoring, or intimidation. Although they are not limited to them, some examples of these behaviors include low self-esteem, self-destructive actions, promiscuity, substance abuse problems, aggression, difficulty forming relationships, cruelty to animals, and suicidal thoughts.
Since emotional abuse does not leave the same obvious traces as physical abuse, it is more challenging to detect. Despite the claims of many specialists that it is more common than all other forms of child abuse, emotional abuse is harder to identify when it is a child’s only form of abuse.
Legally speaking, emotional abuse can occasionally be ambiguous due to the fact that various people frequently interpret the phrase differently.
Differentiating between emotional and psychological abuse can frequently be challenging. Given that the majority of experts concur that emotional child abuse is best described as an assault on the child’s psyche, it is safe to conclude that “emotional” and “mental” abuse are likely to be considered equally in the eyes of the law.
Making this distinction is important since the Michigan penal code does not specifically prohibit the emotional abuse of children. However, the definition of what child abuse might involve that we just described above makes reference to “severe mental injury.”
How Can We Change Parenting Time?
There is no established plan for parenting time. At the request of either one or both parents, the judge may alter it. The parent who files a motion to change parenting time may be either the Plaintiff or the Defendant in the ongoing family dispute. The moving party is the parent who is filing the motion for parenting time modification. The Respondent is the other parent.
Altering parenting time could result in any of the following:
[ a ] Alter the established custodial environment or ECE for your child.
[ b ] Change the length or frequency of parenting time
[ c ] Add, alter, or eliminate a parenting time requirement, such as supervision or drug testing
Before a judge will consider modifying parenting time, there are certain requirements for each type of change that must be met.
Only when there has been a good cause or a change in circumstances will a judge take into account a request to modify parenting time. In situations when modifying parenting time will actually modify custody, the moving party must possess the same evidence required to modify custody.
What the court is actually saying is that you just can’t unilaterally declare there’s abuse and you’re suspending parenting time. You need to have evidence of this abuse actually existing or happening.
The judge in this case will only adjust custody or parenting time if there is good cause or a material change in the circumstances. A change in circumstances must have occurred following the entry of the most recent custody decree. The moving party must demonstrate to the judge that the change in circumstances goes beyond the typical changes for the better or worse in the child’s life.
The party making the change must demonstrate how it has or would significantly impact the child.
At least one of the 12 best interest factors must be linked to the proper cause. It must have an impact on the child significantly or be likely to do so. Events that qualify as proper cause typically occur after the previous custody order has been entered. A shift in circumstances is analogous to the proper cause. If a change in circumstances occurred after the judge approved the previous custody order, it is typically also proper cause. The opposite is also true.
The judge will not modify parenting time if the requesting party is unable to demonstrate justification or a change in circumstances. The existing parenting time schedule will remain in effect.
Is Emotional Abuse Enough to Revoke Parenting Time?
You have to put your assertion of emotional abuse in perspective. Are you legitimately witnessing emotional abuse? Or, are you just setting your ex up for abuse accusations? The court might not have the same concept of emotional abuse as you do. When a child is refused ice cream because they have cavities, you could assume that this constitutes emotional abuse. Perhaps not from the perspective of a Michigan family court. The court can simply interpret it as one parent’s effort to advance the child’s general dental health.
Then, you can suggest, they ought to take the other children to get ice cream. But that raises a question about parenting style, not abuse.
In order for the court to rule in your favor when it needs to make a decision, you must be very prudent in your analysis.
If altering parental time will alter the ECE, proper causes or changes in conditions might be but are not limited to:
[ a] A parent is not present at home.
[ b ] A parent has started abusing alcohol or drugs.
[ c ] A parent frequently fails to give their child the required care.
[ d ] A parent has maltreated or abused a child.
The following situations do not meet the criteria for an appropriate cause or change in circumstances where altering parental time would affect the ECE:
[ a ] Financial difficulties of a parent, which could be resolved by raising child support payments.
[ b ] The typical maturation of a child’s wants and preferences.
[ c ] Change of custody aspirations of a child.
A parent may occasionally wish to restrict the amount of time the other parent spends with the children. Even worse, some people accuse others of abusing them out of solely selfish motives and resentment.
Fortunately, most courts can spot fabricated allegations of abuse. These kinds of egregiously false claims are not well tolerated by the courts when they are presented.
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Goldman and Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.