Abandonment Family Law

Abandonment is defined as an act where someone leaves a family and all the duties and responsibilities that come with it. It can happen with or without cause and there a few different types of abandonment, including child, marital and child custody abandonment.

Marital abandonment is when a spouse leaves the marriage and doesn’t return. It can be either criminal or constructive. Criminal abandonment is when a person leaves the marriage for not having “just cause.” This just means may be responsible for financial responsibilities for the spouse they left. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be jailed or face other criminal methods.

Constructive abandonment deals with providing one spouse “just cause” for exiting the marriage. Things like lack of financial support abuse, adultery, withholding sex and more can all be causes that can lead a person to leave a marriage. However, proving it is another matter. Even if one spouse can produce evidence of just cause, it will most likely not matter since most states feature no-fault divorce laws. It doesn’t matter why a person wants a divorce since the court will most likely grant it, no matter which person is at fault.

Child abandonment is when one spouse leaves the other with the child and not enough support, care, supervision or a parental contract for a period of time. Committing this is a criminal offense. However, one should not confuse child abandonment with child custody abandonment. It’s only considered child abandonment if the main caregiver leaves. In a child custody abandonment case, a noncustodial parent ceases to have any involvement in their child’s life after a divorce or separation.

There are different laws in different states regarding child custody abandonment. Parents cease to have any interaction with their child or children for a number of reasons. However, the effects can be hard to deal with for the children. They can have low self-esteem, anger issues, suffer from depression and more.

It’s important to help non-custodial parents stay in contact with their children after a divorce or separation. Avoiding things like parental alienation, being on time to custody exchanges and encouraging a child to enjoy time with their other parent can allow reduce child custody abandonment. But one of the best ways to avoid this from happening is to have a divorce mediation instead of a conflict-fueled divorce litigation. By reducing conflict in the beginning, both parents are more likely to have an amicable relationship post divorce, which will benefit the children.

If you or a loved one is in need of a professional family lawyer in lower mainland BC, be sure to contact the experts at Sidhu Law today.