Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Talking to a child about court proceedings

My husband's ex is trying to change the current p.plan to take away his med. dec. making rights & his Wed. overnight visits. Mom wants him on meds for a condition he doesn't have-Dad disagrees until there's a proper diagnosis. His son's upset about his parents fighting despite our efforts not to talk about it except to calm him. His son was crying, saying ''I don't know who to trust. My mom keeps asking me 'Don't you ever get tired of going to Dad's on Wed?' & she says she doesn't want to put me on meds, that you're lying.'' We asked him if he'd ever known us to lie to him. ''No, but my mom says..'' & he began crying uncontrollably. [I have been through this with my boys, trying to keep them out of court matters. They only got more upset until they finally read the court documents - then they made an educated decision on who to trust.] I took his mom's statement out & read 2 sentences to him clearly stating her request to the court- no more midweek overnights or medical rights for dad so the court could ''order him to give our son'' meds. He stopped crying & asked ''Why did she lie to me?'' We said ''People make bad choices when they're angry.'' He asked her about it & she's FURIOUS & reporting us to the court. Did I do a terrible thing?


Asked on 3/21/08, 11:33 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Christopher Steuart IT Forensics, Inc.

Re: Talking to a child about court proceedings

I don't know about it being terrible, but I'd say you are meddling in a relationship in which you have very limited authority. Your spouse may have significant problems now. The accusation against him now is probably based on "abusive use of conflict." If he had filed a motion for contempt based on the mother's conduct with the child, instead of allowing you to engage in "self help" for the problems that the mother generated he have been at cause instead of at effect. He can still raise the issues, but now they look more like an after the fact, "she was doing it too."

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Answered on 3/23/08, 12:13 am


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