How the court deals with domestic abuse allegations in children cases
When parents go to court to sort out arrangements for their children it is sadly not uncommon for one of them, most often the mother, to make allegations of domestic abuse against the other.
Obviously, any such allegations, if true, could have a significant bearing upon the outcome of the case. The court will therefore want to investigate the allegations, before deciding upon what the child arrangements should be.
A recent case that took place in the Family Court sitting at Newcastle upon Tyne provides an instructive illustration of how the court goes about investigating domestic abuse allegations in children cases.
The case concerned a father’s application for a children order in relation to his two-year-old daughter.
The mother made a number of allegations of domestically abusive behaviour against the father.
At a hearing in December 2024 the mother’s schedule of allegations was reviewed and slimmed down to two remaining allegations. The court fixed a fact-finding hearing to investigate those two allegations.
The first of the mother’s allegations related to events that took place on a particular day in October 2023. The father went to the mother’s home during a contact visit and a heated argument occurred between the parties. The mother alleged that during the argument the father ‘squared up’ to her, causing her to feel afraid.
The argument had in fact been captured by a security camera in the home. The judge viewed the camera footage and found that it did not support the mother’s version of events. The footage showed that the father did briefly approach close to the mother during the argument, but not in an aggressive way. The mother appeared entirely unconcerned, and did not give any indication by word, facial expression or other body language of any concern at his behaviour.
In the circumstances the judge found that the mother had lied about this incident – the allegation was not merely not proved, it was false.
The second allegation was a more general one: that the father had subjected the mother to controlling and/or coercive behaviour.
It might be thought that as the mother had been found to have lied about the first allegation, the court would find any other allegations by her unproved, but that is not necessarily so.
The judge did treat the mother’s second allegation with caution, but found it to be proved. The father had communicated with the mother and other members of her family in a way that was demeaning and disrespectful to them. He had also on at least one occasion acted in a way that constituted financially controlling or coercive behaviour, by linking financial support for the child to the mother’s behaviour.
You can read the full judgment in the case here.
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