NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Val Kleyman, a partner at the Kleyman Law Firm, and a top-rated divorce and family law attorney in New York City explained what parental alienation is and the danger it poses in the context of family law.
According to attorney Val Kleyman, the term parental alienation rises out of a psychological term called Parental Alienation Syndrome (or PAS), which was devised in the 1980’s. Parental Alienation Syndrome occurs when a parent unduly influences or “programs” the child into a campaign of denigration against the other parent. The second component is the child’s own contributions that dovetail and complement the contributions of the programming parent.
“Your 15-year-old son asks if you can buy him a pair of hard-to-find sneakers for his birthday. If you respond by telling him to choose to live with you and not the other parent in exchange for buying him sneakers, you may have just conducted a form of parental alienation” said Kleyman.
While the act of buying a gift for a child does not automatically mean the parent is actively “alienating” the child against the other parent, the parent’s intent may determine the buying of a gift as “parental alienation”. For example, if the alienating parent reminds the child that they buy more gifts than the other parent, or if the alienating parent tells the child that if they buy a gift, then they must live with them and not with the other parent, that can be construed as parental alienation.
“Courts have held that a finding of parental interference or alienation by one parent against the other parent constitutes one fact, albeit an important one, in determining the best interests of the child, which is the standard courts use in New York to determine who will have custody of the child” said New York divorce lawyer.
Parental alienation also has a profound negative psychological impact on the child. “We strongly advise and caution our clients to be mindful that children are not pawns in their bitter divorce game”.
Val Kleyman is a partner at the Kleyman Law Firm, handling divorce and family law matters in New York. The Kleyman Law Firm is located at One Rockefeller Plaza, 11th Floor, New York, NY. For more info go to https://nyc-divorcelawyer.com, email: vkleyman@kleymanfirm.com or call 212-401-1977.
