Child Custody / Visitation / Contact

A: You are describing a situation of parental alienation. Before taking legal action, it is advisable to seek family psychological therapy to repair the relationship. But if this is not possible, you should file a petition for urgent relief due to ​​parental alienation, in the family court. As part of the application, you must prove that parental alienation does indeed exist, as you claim. To do this, you will need to present documentation of attempts to maintain contact with the child, such as emails, correspondence, external testimonies, reports from social workers, psychologists, medical records, which may support your claim, and prove that parental alienation does indeed exist. The court will generally refer the parties and the child to treatment options, an assistance unit, treatment centers, psychologists, diagnostics, and in more urgent cases, will appoint a caregiver. In extreme situations, the court has the authority to remove the child from parental custody and declare him a needy minor, if this indeed serves the child’s best interests.

No !

Yes ! Where the custodial parent is behind the children’s refusal to see the non-custodial parent, action against the latter, can, in extreme cases, result in a fine being levied on each meeting missed.

Yes, if the refusal is unjustified, then the maintenance may be cut completely (if he is declared ‘rebellious’ under Jewish law) or reduced.

If teenage children of around 14 or 15 still refuse to have contact with their father despite treatment designed to develop a relationship between them, they cannot expect to profit financially, the court said, and can have their maintenance reduced to cover only the bare necessities.