CAN MY HUSBAND USE PAST FALSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ME IN A CHILD CUSTODY CASE?

QUESTION: I am currently residing in the state of California but will be moving to North Carolina. My husband informed me he wants a divorce due to irreconcilable differences. Can he use a past case which involved false allegations of child abuse made against me which were later proven to be false? I have the Court's findings which state that the allegations against me were false and made with malicious intent in order to seek custody.

MY RESPONSE:

If you have written findings of the Court which state that your husband maliciously filed false child abuse charges against you, you should provide those written findings to the divorce court, because, among other things those findings would bear on your husband's credibility.

Family Code Section 3027.5(b) provides that the Court may ordered supervised visitation or limit a parent's custody or visitation if it finds substantial evidence that the parent, with intent to interfere with the other parent's lawful contact with the child, made a report of child sexual abuse during a custody proceeding or at any other time that he/she knew was false when made.

Additionally, Family Code Section 3027.1 provides that monetary sanctions may be imposed on a party for making a knowingly false acusation of child abuse or neglect during child custody proceedings.

Those sanctions are cumulative to any other remedies authorized by law to redress false allegations and testimony (but note that there is no cause of action for malicious prosecution for making false child abuse allegations in a divorce case, due to the Civil Code Section 47(b)'s litigation privilege against tort liability).


This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney and Divorce Lawyer serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years,owner of Warner Center Law Offices, with offices in Woodland Hills and Century City. Call 888.632.4447 or 818.880.8990 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Family Law Specialist to discuss your divorce or family law issues. | www.conviser.net | www.conviserfamilylaw.com |