Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

False child abuse allegations

What are my rights as a father when the mother accuses me of sexual abuse? The mother has a history of abuse by multiple family members. She has fabricated stories in the past.


Asked on 1/06/05, 2:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Mary Ann Wunder Wunder & Wunder

Re: False child abuse allegations

You have run into one of the most difficult problems arising from a broken relationship. If the allegations have been reported to the local child protection service or the local police or sheriff, you will need first to discuss the matter with them. If you petition the court that established paternity or settled the custody issue, you should ask for an expert evaluation of the parties and/or a psychological examination of both parents and the child. This is the best evidence to provide the court on whether such abuse is likely to have occurred. Some children are too young to be reliable in reporting what happened to them and some custodial parents jump to the wrong conclusion based on embellishment of facts by a child and some even falsely report just to hurt the other parent without considering the child. Because of the probability of injury to a child from such activity courts tend to be extremely conservative in reacting to these allegations and will err on the side of protecting the child even though the non-custodial parent may never be proven to have harmed the child. Your financial resources will now be devoted to challenging the allegations without any real proof one way or the other in most situations.

Read more
Answered on 1/06/05, 8:58 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Family Law, Divorce, Child Custody and Adoption questions and answers in Indiana