Court Orders Ex-Wife Jailed for Alienating Kids from Their Dad

A Long Island, NY, judge has sentenced a woman to six weekends in jail for repeatedly undermining her ex-husband's relationship with their two daughters.

Supreme Court Justice Robert A. Ross in Nassau County ruled that the mother, Lauren R., willfully violated a court order by deliberately alienating the elementary school-age children from her ex-husband, Ted R.

Held in Contempt

Justice Ross held Ms. R. in civil contempt and ordered her to report to the Nassau County Correctional Facility every other weekend this summer. Her term was temporarily stayed pending appeal by a judge from the Appellate Division, Second Department.

“The evidence before me demonstrates a pattern of willful and calculated violations of the clear and express dictates of the parties' Stipulation of Settlement,” Justice Ross wrote in Lauren R. v. Ted R., 203699-02. “The extensive record is replete with instances of attempts to undermine the relationship between the children and their father and replace him with her new husband, manipulation of defendant's parenting access, utter and unfettered vilification of the defendant to the children, false reporting of sexual misconduct without any semblance of 'good faith,' and her imposition upon the children to fear her tirades and punishment if they embrace the relationship they want to have with their father.”

A Bit of History

The extraordinary hearing to determine whether Ms. R. should be held in contempt for violating the couple's stipulation of settlement began in May 2009 and stretched over 23 days of hearings over the next nine months. During the hearing, Mr. R. testified to dozens of occasions in which his ex-wife either interfered with his visitation rights or purposefully alienated the children from him. The judge described about a dozen such incidents or patterns in his eight-page decision.

In the winter of 2007, for example, Ms. R. prevented Mr. R. from seeing his daughters for six weeks, Justice Ross wrote. Mr. R. also testified that Ms. R. consistently scheduled theater outings and social activities with her children so that they would conflict with his visitation, thereby putting him in the position of either consenting to a missed visit or risking disappointing his daughters. The “crescendo” of Ms. R.'s contempt involved false accusations of sexual abuse against Mr. R., which needlessly subjected the child to an investigation by Child Protective Services, placing her own interests above those of the child, the judge wrote.

Pending the Appeal

In addition to the contempt finding and the temporarily stayed jail sentence, Justice Ross ordered a hearing to consider a change of custody and to hear Mr. R.'s application for more than $134,000 in attorney's fees. Those hearings were postponed pending Ms. R.'s appeal.

Mark Fass is a reporter for the New York Law Journal, an ALM sister publication in which this article first appeared. He can be reached at [email protected].

A Long Island, NY, judge has sentenced a woman to six weekends in jail for repeatedly undermining her ex-husband's relationship with their two daughters.

Supreme Court Justice Robert A. Ross in Nassau County ruled that the mother, Lauren R., willfully violated a court order by deliberately alienating the elementary school-age children from her ex-husband, Ted R.

Held in Contempt

Justice Ross held Ms. R. in civil contempt and ordered her to report to the Nassau County Correctional Facility every other weekend this summer. Her term was temporarily stayed pending appeal by a judge from the Appellate Division, Second Department.

“The evidence before me demonstrates a pattern of willful and calculated violations of the clear and express dictates of the parties' Stipulation of Settlement,” Justice Ross wrote in Lauren R. v. Ted R., 203699-02. “The extensive record is replete with instances of attempts to undermine the relationship between the children and their father and replace him with her new husband, manipulation of defendant's parenting access, utter and unfettered vilification of the defendant to the children, false reporting of sexual misconduct without any semblance of 'good faith,' and her imposition upon the children to fear her tirades and punishment if they embrace the relationship they want to have with their father.”

A Bit of History

The extraordinary hearing to determine whether Ms. R. should be held in contempt for violating the couple's stipulation of settlement began in May 2009 and stretched over 23 days of hearings over the next nine months. During the hearing, Mr. R. testified to dozens of occasions in which his ex-wife either interfered with his visitation rights or purposefully alienated the children from him. The judge described about a dozen such incidents or patterns in his eight-page decision.

In the winter of 2007, for example, Ms. R. prevented Mr. R. from seeing his daughters for six weeks, Justice Ross wrote. Mr. R. also testified that Ms. R. consistently scheduled theater outings and social activities with her children so that they would conflict with his visitation, thereby putting him in the position of either consenting to a missed visit or risking disappointing his daughters. The “crescendo” of Ms. R.'s contempt involved false accusations of sexual abuse against Mr. R., which needlessly subjected the child to an investigation by Child Protective Services, placing her own interests above those of the child, the judge wrote.

Pending the Appeal

In addition to the contempt finding and the temporarily stayed jail sentence, Justice Ross ordered a hearing to consider a change of custody and to hear Mr. R.'s application for more than $134,000 in attorney's fees. Those hearings were postponed pending Ms. R.'s appeal.

Mark Fass is a reporter for the New York Law Journal, an ALM sister publication in which this article first appeared. He can be reached at [email protected].