A Mother (Appeal: Alienating Behaviours: Fair Procedure), Re

Alienating behaviour is a form of abuse and must be specifically alleged and supported by identified evidence. A court cannot infer alienating behaviour merely because allegations of abuse are unproved or fabricated. The court must apply the three-stage enquiry in the Family Justice Council Guidance: establish the child’s reluctance, resistance or refusal; consider whether it is attributable to the other parent’s conduct or to factors such as alignment, affinity or attachment; and then determine whether the alleged alienating parent engaged in behaviour causing that response. A finding made without fair notice, or without adequate analysis of those stages and causation, is procedurally unjust and unsafe.

Following a fact-finding hearing, a Recorder dismissed the mother’s allegations of abuse against the father and found that she had fabricated allegations. Although the Recorder had made a preliminary decision not to determine the father’s allegations of alienating behaviour, he subsequently found that the mother had engaged in parental alienation in respect of both children.

The mother appealed on procedural fairness, credibility and inadequate reasoning. She did not challenge the dismissal of her allegations as such. The central issues were whether the finding of parental alienation was made fairly and whether the Recorder had correctly applied the three-stage approach in the Family Justice Council Guidance.

1. Appeal allowed in part. The finding of parental alienation was set aside. The Recorder’s finding was procedurally unfair because he had removed the father’s alienating-behaviour allegations from the agenda and had not given the mother notice that such a finding might be made. This breached her article 6 right to a fair hearing and natural justice.
2. Alienating behaviours are a form of abuse. Where alleged, the allegation must be identified and the supporting evidence specified. The burden rests on the person making the allegation. A finding that abuse allegations are unproved, or even fabricated, does not by itself establish alienating behaviour.
3. The court should apply the three-stage enquiry in the Family Justice Council Guidance, as explained in Re Y (Experts and Alienating Behaviour: The Modern Approach) [2026] EWFC 38: first, whether the child is reluctant, resistant or refusing to engage with a parent; secondly, whether that response is attributable to the parent’s conduct or to another factor, including alignment, affinity or attachment; and thirdly, whether the alleged alienating parent engaged in behaviour that directly or indirectly caused the response.
4. The Recorder had not established stage one in relation to P. In relation to Q, he had not adequately considered alignment, affinity or attachment, and had not explained what conduct by the mother caused Q’s reluctance or resistance. He also failed to explain how fabricated allegations had affected the children beyond enabling contact to be stopped. Those were fundamental errors.
5. The credibility findings and findings that the mother had fabricated allegations 2(a) to (f), and encouraged Q to make the detailed allegation 1(a), were within the known parameters of the fact-finding hearing and adequately reasoned. Ground 2 therefore failed. The order inaccurately stated that all allegations had been fabricated and was amended accordingly.
6. The question whether a further fact-finding hearing on alleged alienating behaviour was required was remitted to the Family Court. The issue was to be considered in light of the surviving findings, all current evidence, and the fact that subsequent evidence had been gathered on the basis of the now-set-aside finding.

• High Court (Family Division): appeal from the Recorder’s fact-finding judgment of 9 July 2025. The appeal was allowed on procedural unfairness and inadequate reasoning; the parental-alienation finding was set aside.
• Family Court: the case was remitted for consideration of whether a further fact-finding exercise concerning alleged alienating behaviour was required.