Malicious Mother Syndrome

Shawn Breyer
July 26, 2021

Malicious Mother Syndrome Definition

Malicious mother syndrome is when a mother uses the children to punish the father.

She usually ends up depriving her children to make the father look bad.

What Is Malicious Mother Syndrome?

When you’re co-parenting with the mother, many things can feel like malicious mother syndrome.

So, what is malicious mother syndrome?

Malicious mother syndrome is considered a behavioral issue.

It’s where the mother acts purposefully and vengefully towards the father during or after a divorce.

Malicious mother syndrome must meet these criteria.

She must:

be committing parental alienation
be denying visitation and communication to you
be lying to the children about you not showing up
be violating laws or court orders
NOT be suffering from other mental disorders

Committing Parental Alienation

It’s natural that there is a lot of anger developed during a divorce.

But sometimes mothers use their children as leverage against fathers.

The children may be the only thing the mother can use to get back at the father.

Parental alienation gets used to lash out at the father for the divorce.

During parental alienation, the child distances themselves from the father.

This is a result of the mother psychologically manipulating the child against the father.

This “distance” shows up in the child as:

fear of the father
disrespect or hostility toward the father
not wanting to see the father

Denying Visitation And Communication

This is commonly known as parental interference or custodial interference.

This is when a mother:

doesn’t allow the child to talk to the father
“gets too busy” to drop the child off on time
blocks emails, texts, and calls from the father
doesn’t inform the father of important activities

Sometimes, a mother will do this when the father owes child support.

But keeping the child away from the other parent can backfire.

For the mother, this can result in:

fines
misdemeanors
jail time
felony charges

Lying To The Children

One of the main factors in malicious mother syndrome is lying to the children.

Mothers will lie to their children about the father.

These lies can include things like:

not telling the father about activities and telling the kids they didn’t want to come
spending support money and saying they aren’t getting any
blocking visitation and saying the father doesn’t want to see them

These are things we see happen all the time.

These malicious mother syndrome activities manipulate the children.

And it makes the children wrongfully dislike the father.

Mental Disorders

Malicious mother syndrome has not been deemed a mental disorder.

It is classified as a pattern of behaviors.

The judge wants to make sure that mental disorders are not causing this behavior.

If there are no mental disorders, then it’s deemed malicious mother syndrome.

Examples Of Mother Parent Syndrome

You probably want to know specific examples of malicious mother syndrome.

That way you can tell if it’s legally happening to you.

Some examples of malicious mother syndrome are:

burning down the house of the ex-spouse (trust us, it happens)
falsely accusing the father of abuse
purposefully interfering with planned parenting time
misinforming the father about the child’s activities so they miss them
telling the children they can’t afford food because the father wasted their money

Malicious Mother Syndrome Effects On Children

The goal of malicious mother syndrome is to get back at the other father.

This gets accomplished by deteriorating the relationship that the father has with the child.

Short term, the effects of this on the children are:

distrust of the father
anger towards the father
lower self-esteem
separation anxiety
misbehavior
feelings of anger and hostility

Longer-term effects on children are:

low self-esteem
addiction and substance abuse
trust issues
relationship problems

Legal Consequences Of Malicious Mother Syndrome

Malicious mother syndrome breaks numerous laws and court orders.

For that reason, there are numerous legal consequences to malicious mother syndrome.

And each action has different types of legal consequences.

Here are some examples of situations and the consequences.

attacking the father or property – criminal charges
depriving the children of food or money – child abuse
lying to the judge under oath – perjury

These legal consequences come with:

court fines
misdemeanors
losing child custody
felony charges
jail time

But, separate from this, there are also violations of civil law, like:

denying court-ordered visitation
parental alienation
parenting time interference
blocking communication with the child
lying about the father to the child
not telling the father about important events

These types of civil violations violate court orders.

This is because custody and visitation are court orders.

When this happens, the courts are likely to:

impose fines
make the parent attend counseling
change custody
change child support
impose misdemeanor charges
impose supervised visitation

What Can You Do About Malicious Mother Syndrome?

If you are experiencing malicious mother syndrome:

document the behaviors as evidence for the court
hire a child custody attorney
provide them with your evidence
file a petition to modify custody and child support
receive new court orders

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