Bad Mouthing Your Ex Could Land You In Court

Legal Effects and Developmental Impact of Bad Mouthing Your Ex

Badmouthing an ex to a child can be extremely detrimental to your children, but it could also hurt your right to custody. If the bad-mouthing is viewed as an attempt to alienate a child from the other parent, it could be grounds for custody modification or loss of custody and visitation rights all together. 

Parental alienation is when one parent intentionally displays unjustified negativity about the other parent to the child to damage the child’s relationship with the other parent and turn their emotions against that parent. The focus of custody is to protect the welfare and best interests of the children. A relationship with both parents is a main priority of custody agreements. Because of this focus, parental alienation is not taken lightly and can have major ramifications.

Not only could bad-mouthing your ex impact your ability to see them, but it could also hurt your child’s emotional development. It can be difficult for a child to process one parent saying horrible things about the other. Children who are put in the middle of parental disagreements are more likely to deal with depression and anxiety in the future.

Not only can being involved in disputes cause children stress and anxiety, but it can also belittle your child. Young children tend to attribute themselves to their parents. This means when you insult their parent to them, they may take it as an insult to themselves.

How to Deal With Your Ex Bad Mouthing You

If your child repeats negative comments from your ex, it’s understandable that you might feel at a loss for what to say or do. It’s important to try to stay as calm as possible and try to keep any negative reactions or comments to yourself while you tackle the lies. It’s important to keep in mind that even though your ex may have messed up in your marriage, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a bad person.

Because hearing negative comments about you may have upset your child, talking to them and reassuring your child about who you are and how the comments made them feel can go a long way. 

Creating a communication plan with your ex may help you avoid putting your child in those situations. Depending on the specifics of your relationship, this might not be possible, but opening up and planning for communication is always a good idea. An attorney can work with you to help mediate these conversations to avoid animosity and protect your children.

Contact a Child Custody Attorney

Protecting your relationship with your children and your children’s mental and emotional well-being is one of your most important jobs as a parent. If your ex is making negative comments about you that hurt your relationship with your child, they should be addressed. Depending on the extent of the negativity, it could even be grounds for modifying your custody agreement. 

If trying to manage negative comments from your ex, consulting an attorney on your rights and options to protect your children may be a good idea. Contact Campbell Law today to explore how we may be able to help you improve your co-parenting situation.