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Abstract: 

Three recent rulings on cases involving family violence and child custody are described. In the first case, citing important but overlooked evidence and decisions made unsupported by scientific facts, an appeals court overturned the verdict of the lower court and denied a father visitation because of suspected sexual abuse of his daughter. In the second case, custody was awarded to a child’s father, scolding the mother for “lack of candor and cooperation” with medical professionals. This ruling was made even after acknowledging the father’s previous partner violence against the mother. In the final case, a mother lost custody of her children after a jury found that she had cruelly abused the father but not vice versa. The father was awarded conservatorship of the children. The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed this judgment.

Keywords: Wilkins v. Ferguson, 928 A.2d 655 (D.C. Ct. App. 2007); Matter of Hugh, L. v. Fhara L., 840N.Y.S.2d 352 (1st Dep’t 2007); Varela v. Varela, 2006 WL 821364 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006)

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