In the hundreds of posts I wrote for this blog during the past year alone, I chronicled a long and dizzying list of poor behaviour by various Family Law litigants.
The more devoted readers among you will remember the ones who:
- Tendered nude photos of a former romantic partner in the evidence submitted to court
- Returned court documents to the other parent with a “very offensive word” scribbled on them
- Sent nasty private e-mails to friends, threatening to shoot the female judge hearing his case
And, not surprisingly, such behaviour has prompted judges on more than one occasion to roundly chastise misbehaving parents for their conduct both in the courtroom and outside (see Court Conjures “Breaking Bad” Analogy for Warring Parents, and Judge Laments Financial “Tragedy” Parents’ Custody Battle), and in one instance, to “break up” with the squabbling couple.
Needless to say, my own stance as a Collaborative Family Lawyer is that the resolution of divorce and custody disputes, no matter how acrimonious and ugly, should always be achieved with as little discord as possible, and with zero naughtiness, underhandedness, and spite.
So my aim in writing about these topics is to educate and inform – not to give any of my readers ideas. I hope that in the past year you have gained some insight into the type of conduct to avoid in your own Family Litigation. Let’s hope that I won’t be writing about any of you in these Blogs in the coming year.
