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Understanding the Court's Role in High-Conflict Cases
In high-conflict divorces, the court becomes essential for protecting your rights and your children. Understanding how courts operate helps you use the system effectively.
What courts can do:
- Enforce existing orders: Hold violating parties in contempt, impose fines or sanctions
- Modify orders: Change custody, support, or parenting time based on changed circumstances
- Issue protective orders: Restrict contact when safety is at risk
- Appoint professionals: Custody evaluators, parenting coordinators, guardians ad litem
- Make final decisions: When parents cannot agree, judges decide
What courts cannot do well:
- Change personalities: Courts can order behavior, not attitude
- Micromanage daily life: Judges handle major issues, not minor annoyances
- Act quickly: Court calendars are crowded; emergency motions are reserved for true emergencies
- Read minds: You must present evidence; judges only know what you prove
Courts are a last resort, but in high-conflict cases, they may be your only recourse for resolution.
Most judges have seen every type of high-conflict behavior. They are skilled at identifying manipulation, false accusations, and game-playing by either party.
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