Father’s allegations against mother found to be no more than deflection

It is sadly quite common for parties to family law disputes, particularly involving arrangements for children, to raise allegations of abuse against the other party.

And the other party may respond with similar allegations of their own.

But sometimes the response is merely intended to deflect, containing untrue allegations suggesting that it is actually the first party that is ‘guilty’ of the abuse.

Such a tactic was given a name by a judge last year. He called it ‘DARVO’, standing for: “Deflect/deny, Attack and Reverse the role of Victim and Offender”.

It is, of course, a tactic often used in arguments. But when it occurs in family courts, the court will obviously want to investigate, and find out where the truth lies.

And the court is likely to do this by fixing a ‘fact-finding’ hearing, where it will consider all of the allegations, by both parties, and decide whether each of the allegations are true.

This is what happened in a recent case in the Family Court sitting at Luton.

The case related to child arrangements proceedings between parents, concerning their son, who was born in 2021.

In the course of the proceedings the mother made domestic abuse allegations against the father, in particular that he had exhibited coercive and controlling behaviour.

The father denied the allegations, and made abuse allegations of his own against the mother, including asserting that the mother was coercive, controlling and manipulating.

The court fixed a fact-finding hearing.

It is not necessary here to go through all of the findings that the court made. Suffice to say that the judge did not find any of the father’s allegations proved, but found most of the mother’s allegations to be proved.

The judge also found that the father’s allegations, and indeed his case itself, amounted to ‘DARVO’. The father had sought to recast himself as a victim of abuse by the mother, when the evidence very much pointed the other way.

‘DARVO’ is not an ‘official’ legal term, but it is useful to describe a not uncommon tactic used by parties to family court proceedings, when confronted with allegations of domestic abuse. Knowledge of the term may also help to alert the court to the possibility that the tactic is being used.

You can read the full report of the case here.

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