The Family Court was conceived as a judicial sanctuary intended to arbiter the resolution of domestic disputes. However, in the context of cases of involving family violence, in my experience, it frequently morphs into a domain of entrapment, where the very people it seeks to protect are instead ensnared by…

Exploring covert tactics of emotional manipulation in family court disputes — Family courts are traditionally seen as arbiters of fairness: institutions that protect the vulnerable and purportedly uphold the “principles of justice”. For anyone who has read my other work on here, you’ll know that as a former barrister (lawyer) with near a decade’s experience working across a variety of courts…

Understanding Abuse, Manipulation, and the Silent Epidemic — Gaslighting, a term derived from the 1944 movie “Gaslight,” has now become a common word in our lexicon, especially when discussing manipulative relationships. But few areas of society are as affected by this corrosive behavior as the family court, especially in cases involving abuse. Gaslighting, at its core, is a…

Exploring Victim-Blaming, Abuse Myths, Gender Bias & the Need for Judicial Reform — Historically, legal systems worldwide evolved from societies where men held power in almost every sphere. This foundation has unintentionally conditioned legal structures to reflect and sustain male-centred perspectives, often sidelining concerns and experiences unique to women and marginalised groups. When abuse victims (which social science researchers have long since demonstrated…

The relocation doctrine in family courts is a principle that seeks to balance a custodial parent’s right to move for legitimate reasons against the noncustodial parent’s right to maintain a close relationship with their child. It sounds rational on paper, but it often disproportionately affects women, particularly those attempting to…

Erroneous Handling of Abuse Cases and the Often Silent (or Silenced) Victims Caught In-Between — Custody battles, often fraught with emotion, have implications that stretch beyond the immediate parties involved. The often hidden casualties are the children — silently enduring the process, absorbing its reverberations, and living the consequences. In cases intertwined with allegations of abuse, the stakes are exponentially higher, and the potential for…

Peering behind the curtain of family dynamics, one quickly discovers that issues like coercive control, violence, and abuse do not just reside in the confines of dark alleyways or the pages of thriller novels. Rather, they seep silently into the fabrics of our society, permeating households and relationships — too…

Recognising Intangible Investments and Challenging Patriarchal Norms & Understandings When A Relationship Fails — Amidst the intricacies of family court dynamics lies the contentious issue of relationship property. When two lives, intertwined in love, partnership, and mutual responsibilities, separate, the division of relationship property stands as one of the most vexed processes in the legal world.

Family courts, with their proclaimed ideals of fairness and objectivity, often stand as paradoxical entities across the Western world. Intended as mediators of domestic disputes, in my experience as a lawyer, they too often instead usher women (and their children) into unsafe circumstances and the grasp of financial instability, while…