Domestic violence allegations can have a profound impact on your life. They can lead to an arrest, criminal charges, conviction, jail time, loss of job, damage to a career, and disruption to your standing in the community. These accusations can also play a role in a child custody dispute where the other parent uses the allegations as evidence to demonstrate that your time and contact with your child should be limited. In other words, if you don’t properly handle false allegations of domestic violence, then life as you know it can quickly be upended.
Don’t let your child’s other parent get away with this underhanded tactic. Instead, diligently work to ensure the truth comes out and use the other parent’s willingness to spread lies against them in your custody case. But how do you go about doing all of that?
How to address false allegations of domestic violence?
It can be infuriating and overwhelming to be accused of a crime that you didn’t commit. But don’t let the pressure of the situation leave you flustered. Instead, consider doing the following to protect yourself moving forward:
- Build your alibi: A lot of false domestic violence allegations are poorly planned and are often made on the spur of the moment. That might give you an opportunity to show that you were somewhere else when the alleged incident occurred. So, do your best to pin down when the other parent is claiming the domestic violence occurred to see if you can corroborate that you were somewhere else entirely at that time.
- Refrain from contacting the other parent: After false allegations are made, you might feel the urge to contact the other parent for an explanation or to try to resolve the issue on your own. Don’t do that. The other parent has already egregiously lied about your actions, so there’s a good chance they’ll lie about what you discuss with them. This can leave you in an even more difficult position since you may then have to focus on disproving those lies, too.
- Secure witnesses: If you have witnesses who can testify to being with you when the alleged event occurred, great. If that’s not possible, then you might still be able to secure witnesses who can testify to your character and your relationship with the other parent. These witnesses might be able to help you show the judge how the other parent has a history of manipulation, which will support your efforts to demonstrate that the allegations against you are false and are merely being used as a tool to gain an advantage in the custody proceeding at hand.
- Retain communications: If the other parent has been texting or emailing you, then be sure to keep these communications so that you can document your conversations. It’ll be helpful to write notes during phone conversations and after face-to-face contact, too. That way you can have a clear recollection of anything that the other parent has said about getting back at you or accusing you of doing something that you haven’t done.
Don’t let false allegations of domestic violence derail your child custody case
We know that dealing with false allegations of domestic violence can be extraordinarily stressful. But don’t let your emotions cause further problems. Instead, remain calm, develop a legal plan, and act in a timely fashion to protect yourself and your relationship with your child. Hopefully then you’ll be able to beat back the allegations and salvage the time that you want to spend with your kid by showing that such contact remains in the child’s best interests.