Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

Divorce, custody & alleged sexual harassment

Person A is divorcing person B and child C is 3 yrs old. A has been accused of sexual misconduct with his child C by soon-to-be x-wife B. A has been evaluated and found to have an extremely low likelihood of this kind of behaviour. B has made this accusation before against her own brother and recieved a huge settlement for it. How often does this happen? What can a lawyer do about this? What would A's path to sucessful visitaiton rights be like?


Asked on 9/05/08, 1:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Maury Beaulier612.240.8005 Minnesota Lawyers

Re: Divorce, custody & alleged sexual harassment

Unfortunately, it happens quite often. Criminal charges of sexual conduct aare often pursued even where the evidence is extraordinarily weak.

Prosecutor's will tell you that is because such conduct does not occur with witnesses around. I will tell you that it is an abuse of process where someone is branded with the proverbial scarlet letter where there is no evidence to support the charge.

I handle many of these types of case. One of the first measures is to retain an expert psychologist to review any videotaped interviews. After that occurs, the compentency of the child should be challenged and a competency hearing held. If the child is determined to be incompetent, then prosecutor will seek to admit any videotaped interview with the child. The videotape can also be challenged based on inappropriate interview methods.

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Answered on 9/05/08, 2:37 pm


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