Vol. 31, No. 6, 10. Raising the Bar: Improving the Representation of Children in Family Law Cases Marked by Domestic Violence.

• Author: Author: Dona Playton

Wyoming Bar Journal

2008.

Vol. 31, No. 6, 10.

Raising the Bar: Improving the Representation of Children in Family Law Cases Marked by Domestic Violence

Wyoming Bar Journal Issue: December, 2008 Author: Dona Playton Raising the Bar: Improving the Representation of Children in Family Law Cases Marked by Domestic Violence

A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation.Domestic violence is relevant in a wide variety of criminal and civil cases. In family law, evidence of domestic violence may impact distribution of assets, immigration issues, appropriateness of mediation, custody, relocation and appropriate parental education programs when domestic violence is present. In cases where child custody is at issue, it is imperative that clients are screened for evidence of domestic violence. Lawyers, including judges and guardians ad litem (GALs), need ongoing and updated training related to domestic violence. Domestic violence can harm not only the adult victim of the abuse, but the children residing in the household. This article will address the need for more emphasis on domestic violence training in order to establish effective standards and policies for GALs in high conflict divorce and custody cases.

While most of the academic attention on family law and domestic violence has been directed at the impacts of the violence on children, lawyers for battered women continue to face a legal system where the violence is too often minimized or denied by those involved in the proceeding. Any sympathy toward a victim or calls for accountability against the batterer in a criminal context can easily turn to disdain or suspicious doubt toward the victim for even bringing up abuse allegations in the family law context. Despite the widespread acceptance that domestic violence is detrimental to children, "family courts often do not consider the history of violence between the parents in making custody and visitation decisions. . ." Psychological evaluators not trained in domestic violence may contribute to this process by ignoring or minimizing the violence and by giving inappropriate pathological labels to women's responses to chronic victimization. Terms such as "parental alienation" may...