Every once in awhile, there is a reported case where one parent’s interference with the rights of the other parent, results in the interfering parent’s loss of custody. I have written about this problem before.
Nikolic v. Ingrassia presents another such case where unfounded claims of abuse by one parent resulted in a loss of custody. In Nickolic, the Appellate Division affirmed a lower court’s finding that:
. . . .the mother had interfered with the father’s visitation rights by demonstrating a “relentless determination . . . to have the father characterized as an abuser” and thereby preclude his access to the child. The court’s finding is supported by substantial evidence, including several unfounded reports of abuse made by the mother to the police and to Child Protective Services, as well as the opinion of a psychologist that the young child may have been coached to say that her father had hit her.
Having made that finding, the Court “recognized that the [w]illful interference with a noncustodial parent’s right to visitation is so inconsistent with the best interests of the child as to raise a strong probability that the offending party is unfit to act as a custodial parent.”
BE WARNED- Unfounded and false reports of abuse will not be condoned and will be punished. You will lose custody of your children.
