Child Custody And The Narcissists

A marriage might not survive when one spouse is a narcissist. An overbearing spouse who causes nothing but stress in a marriage could make the union untenable. Things become even further complicated when there are children involved. While the one spouse may cease dealings with a former partner after a New York court issues a final divorce decree, the children could continue to deal with the narcissist’s behavior. Such a situation might add complexities to a parenting plan.

Narcissists and parenting plans

A parent victimized by a narcissistic spouse may assume the children will be okay either living with the other parent or taking part in unsupervised visitations. That might not be the case because many of a narcissist’s abusive traits may end up targeting a child.

Narcissists can be controlling, verbally abusive and demand attention at all times. Children could become the new victims of such abusive behaviors. The effects on the children might be tragic, as the young ones may experience severe emotional wounds.

There may be ways to help a child deal with the situation. Taking the child to a therapist to discuss any problems and how to co-exist with a narcissistic parent could provide some solutions. That said, informing the court might be necessary if the one parent is abusive.

Child custody and narcissists

The court will review a parent’s fitness during a child custody hearing. A judge would doubtfully trust an abusive parent, so the court could order supervised visitations. The spouse divorcing the narcissist may need to present compelling evidence to the court regarding the other spouse’s behavior. Eyewitness testimony and text messages are two examples of evidence.

If problems occur after the court agrees to the child custody arrangement, the custody order may need to be modified.