Introduction
We have all seen courtroom shows on television; You know, the ones where someone is lying about their testimony on the witness stand, but the attorney is able to badger them to the point where they break down crying, openly confessing to their sins. It’s the Perry Mason effect that so many of us have gotten used to over the decades.
The truth is that courtrooms don’t often work this way. In fact, it’s less than 1% of the time that someone really breaks down this way approving that they were lying about their testimony. The more likely scenario is that they will stand firmly on their statements unless they are proven to be lying. That’s where the true challenge arises.
People Will Fabricate the Truth to Get What They Want
While television has exaggerated this particular aspect of the courtroom quite a bit, there is actually one area where it is accurate. When parents are involved in a heated divorce or child custody battle, many things can be said that are far from the truth. One parent accuses the other of abusing the children or abusing them, they make the one parent out to be a horrible human being with a litany of stories of their drunken or irrational behavior, or they present them as a completely dispassionate parent who could care less about their children.
These stories are frequently told in court, especially when there is a situation where the parents are in a heated battle with one another. In these cases, all kinds of outrageous accusations are made and the court is left trying to figure out who is telling the truth.
What makes matters worse is often there will be third parties who decide to interject themselves into the proceedings by adding their own sordid details about one of the parents. Family members, close friends, co-workers, and neighbors all come to the defense of one of the parents, or even both, telling their versions of why one parent is not suitable to have the children.
These stories can be greatly exaggerated or even be an outright lie, how is the court to know? Unless there are conflicting details, the court is often going to listen to these stories and believe that one parent may be the horrific human being that they are being presented as.
This not only can paint you an extremely negative light, but can force the court to rule against you. This means you can wind up paying a larger amount of child support, receive no child support, lose custody of the children, or have only supervised visits. It can quickly go beyond frustrating to absolutely infuriating when people are lying about you and you seem to have no recourse.
How to Prove Someone is Lying in Family Law Court
While it is not often possible for you to refute lies being told against you, there are things you can do to try to ensure that the truth is brought out. It’s one thing when you are stuck in a “he said, she said” situation where there are only two people who are witnesses to an event, but the vast majority of other instances have at least some form of evidence that helps to support one side or the other.
Provide Evidence
For example, when one parent is accused of abuse of some kind, whether it is sexual, physical or emotional, there are telltale signs of whether this is true or not. Even if the children swear it is going on or deny it to the hilt, the truth is that there are ways that professionals are able to tell whether abuse has occurred or not.
This begins with physical examinations that have occurred on a regular basis at the doctor’s office. Doctors are trained to look for specific instances of abuse, not only in the physical but also in the manner in which the child conducts him or herself. If the doctor is not noticing any of these signs then this evidence can help disprove an allegation being made against you.
Reputable Witnesses
There are common behaviors that children demonstrate at school when they are going through abuse or neglect. Seeking the testimony of teachers and other school personnel on how the children have been acting is a great piece of evidence to dispute any lie being told against you. If the one parent is claiming that the primary custodial parent is not properly feeding the children but every day at school other kids and teachers can testify to the fact that they bring a lunch, they actively participate in class and are very social, this would seem to refute the lies being told about you.
Understand that there are ways that you can defeat a lie, even if the only people who heard or saw the event were you and the person telling the lie.
Seek the Council of a Skilled Family Law Attorney
If you are in a situation where accusations are being made against you, you need sound legal advice at this time more than ever. This is especially true if it is an issue of neglect or abuse.
Understand that if you are being accused of abusing or neglecting your children in some way, this action can lead to your kids being taken from you. It could even lead to the court deciding to press charges against you. You could wind up in jail for a lie that is being told about you.
This is why you need to find a proven family law attorney who can not only help you with the legal battle you are involved in, but also protect you from spurious allegations being made. They will also know how to look for evidence to support your side, and assist you in whatever action you are involved in. This is an absolute necessity when involved in this kind of battle.
Call the Family Law Team at (480) 467-4348 to hire an attorney today.