Are There Laws To Protect A Man From An Ex-Wife’s False Report?
A legal system that was designed to protect against abuse is itself being abused, as described in the previous article “How Your Ex-Wife Can Legally Keep Your Kids From You.”
The power of false allegations of abuse is undeniable, but the story of Darryl Ginyard gives hope to all fathers being denied their rights to see their children.
Mr. Ginyard recently received an $852,000 judgment for his ex-wife’s false allegations of sexual abuse to their daughters.
Throughout the process of repeated false accusations from his ex-wife, the police repeatedly questioned Darryl. Child Welfare Services denied the Darryl access to his daughters every time an allegation was made. Over time and in the course of several allegations, the police investigators questioned Mr. Ginyard in relentless two- or three-hour interrogation sessions.
After one of his ex-wife’s false allegations, Darryl was prohibited from seeing his children for nine months. This was after several other shorter periods of time in which he was denied access to his daughters until after the police and the child welfare worker had determined that the abuse allegations were groundless.
You can imagine the effect the disruption, questioning, and the absence of their father had on Darryl’s daughters. Mr. Ginyard also lost his job when the human resources department for the bank where he worked received an anonymous call regarding the sexual assault charges that were being investigated.
After six years of doing all that he could to defend himself, Darryl was granted full custody of his children with reasonable visitation awarded to his ex-wife.
She isn’t exercising her visitation rights, however, because right now she is serving the first year of a 14-year sentence behind bars for being convicted of filing false reports on her ex-husband.
What A Father Can Do
If a father is accused of abusing his children, he should immediately contact an attorney experienced in family law.
Even though he has done nothing wrong, the laws, and particularly the application of those laws, are not in his favor.
“Time and time again, I have seen orders of protection treat the man like a criminal when there is no basis for the endangerment claims,” Cordell & Cordell CEO Joseph Cordell wrote on HuffingtonPost.com. “These men are law-abiding citizens and great fathers who see their rights challenged or completely vanish in court. Even if the allegations of abuse are found to be false and the protective order is dismissed at the full hearing, these men are still victimized by the stigma that they are abusers.”
Columnist and fathers rights activist Jake Morphonios makes the following observation:
“In most court districts throughout the United States, judges run for office as any other politician. If a judge takes, or fails to take, an action that leads to the abuse of a child by an alleged child abuser, his political career may be over. Political expediency is a strong, yet unspoken, factor in emotionally charged cases such as with child sexual abuse.
When a father has been falsely accused of molesting his child, even when no evidence substantiates the claim, he often loses custody of his children because the court decides to ‘play it safe.’ The father may not go to jail, but the temporary order preventing his access to his children is frequently made permanent. By no fault of his own, the father has lost his children, all because a mother chose to fight dirty in court.”
When an ex-wife alleges that her ex-husband is abusing their children and files a report with the Department of Children & Family Services – or any other child protection or law enforcement agency – the father should immediately seek legal counsel with fathers rights lawyer, such as the ones at Cordell & Cordell. The attorney will work with the father to develop a strategy to help protect him from unfounded allegations.
Yes, there are laws to protect the victim of a false report, but no, they are not applied when the report alleges that a father has abused his children.
Without an attorney, a dad accused of these charges is unequivocally outnumbered and outplayed by the children’s mother, the law, and the social welfare system.
Related Article: How Your Ex-Wife Can Legally Keep Your Kids From You
Author Julie Garrison has been writing articles and short stories for the past 10 years and has appeared in several magazines and e-zines.
My boyfriend and his ex wife are constantly in court over false allegations. Just yesterday she informed him that she called CPS on him again claiming that he is failing to properly care for his daughters medically when he has visitation. (This is after numerous claims of abuse.) Every time they’ve been to court, the judge rules in his favor. He will get his visitation 6 months or a year and she will conjure up something else. We have paid over $20,000 in lawyers fees, fuel to make the 3 hour drive for court appearances and many sleepless nights worrying and wondering this year alone. Here we are again…calling lawyers…gathering witnesses…trying to find some way to get redemption…Some way to make her pay for all of the heart ache she’s caused him, his family and those precious babies! This article gives me hope!
The abuse report forms that I have seen require the person signing the form to acknowledge that they can be charged with perjury for making false statements.
Does the local prosecutor have the …political courage to charge her with making a false police report or perjury?
In 2003 the Massachusetts Appellate Court Vacated the Restraining order that was placed upon me by a vengeful ex-wife with the assistance of a low life Lawyer and a corrupt Judge. I had more than enough evidence supporting my claim of innocence as a D.S.S report supported my claim. The false charges should have been dismissed but unfortunately the fix was in as the Judge and prosecuting Lawyer were friends. 2 more in depth investigations were conducted and all supported me. I have never seen my children again.
The person creating false reports should be arrested and do yrs; this will stop false reports towards parents that are just trying to raise their babies!
I have been cleared by the police agencies CPS Child Advocacy Center said it never happened and I’m still not able to have my kids I’ve lost my my business my home fighting for something that never happened how can you be cleared of everything and still lose all your rights and lose your life in the process
my son is always being accused of something and his ex withholds the girls, so when we called the police and got incident reports, she retaliated by filing for an emergency custody order keeping the kids away. All she ever said was he used an e cig one time in the car, and they come home sick after a visit. I was there- she sent them sick. I hope the judge throws the book at women like this. I am so tired of ex wives who use their kids as pawns to punish their ex husbands. I am sick of false statements, that they eventually believe themselves. I am sick of moms who put their kids on the phone crying because she is offering a better activity on his weekend, and he has to miss his time with them. I am sick of the moms who want their own new family and exclude the birth father and have the kids call the new boyfriend or husband, dad. In my case, my ex DIL is not married to the felon, is pregnant, has the kids call the boyfriend, dad, and is a pathological liar. I have seen and heard her lies the whole time I have known her. She is money hungry and somehow slips out of fraud charges.
This is what my son is going through now.
It’s not always the women filing these false charges. I have searched and searched the Internet and there is virtually nothing helping women whose husbands file for both charges a restraining orders to take away their kids kick them out of their house not let them see their kids and be broke
Thomas. I to Am in a situation .My wife of. 5 happy yrs. So I thought. Has charged me with a felony DV.haven’t gone to Court yet.But she has the entire time been seeing this guy whom I know and worked for his dad for a long time.now we all have a past and so do I.I made a mistake yrs ago and was charged with felonychild abuse..It was a bad situation because the child who stood 6ft1inch y’all at 13 yrs old hit my disabled mother…well of course I took action and got him.well got chargedwith that case.but under no circumstance was it right…but anyway my wife knew of my past so in later yrs I found out she was cheating..so I questioned as argue about the whole situation.well the nxt afternoon I was picked up by the police.taken to jail and somehow her and the investagater have charged me with a felony domestic violence charge…she told police that I took her At knife point put her in the car went down the road. Beat her and then brought her back home.??Crazy right…anyway her knowing my past she came up with this plan……come to find out SHE id’s pregnant I know it isn’t mine bc haven’t been intimate inn several months..so she took papers out for the DV put a protection order against me for her and our daughter…Well since she put me in jail. Sh she took all the money.took my daughter, and now living with the guy who got her pregnant and I have heard they eloped…but before this I have been stricken with cancer and been wanting to tell her but now I can’t bc she is. Gone.so I am all alone no money almost lost job bc of her haven’t seen daughter in over 2 months.andawaiting my trial I just don’t see how someone can do this. I have talked with many lawyers and they all seem to turn there nose up at the case and then say my fee is 8000 to start……………ok..believe it or not he was the cheapest.but with no money or family as friends to help.I’m screwed.but if it takes me a hundred yrs I will do anything to be able to have a lawyer help fight my case and have my daughter back inn my arms..the other thing she moved out of state and left our daughter with her mom and when she does get her they go to a place where I truly feel my daughter is in harms way.bc of the drugs and guns and I talk to the police as they say there is nothing they can do with out paperwork…well her knowing all the police force makes it hard on me bc I’m followed everywhere I go ..I’m sorry but this is seriously messed up. All I ask is for anyone reading this. Please please for the love of God help me……….thanks. Thomas