How does Georgia law define parental alienation, and how does it affect custody decisions?

Kellyn Kidwell, Georgia managing attorney | Marble Law

Georgia managing attorney at Marble Law

Published March 9, 2025 · 4 min read

Key Takeaways

Parental alienation is when one parent intentionally engages in activities to try to undermine their child’s relationship with their other parent.
In Georgia, parents who engage in alienation behaviors are likely to lose custody of their child.
If you believe your coparent is trying to alienate your child from you, document any evidence. This may include collecting texts, emails, social media posts and witness and expert testimony.
Legal action to fight back against parental alienation includes filing for a custody modification, a temporary restraining order and a contempt of court action.

What is parental alienation?

Georgia law currently doesn’t have a specific statute that defines “parental alienation”. Instead, the courts may use American Law Reports (ALR) as a source for guidance. The ALR provides in-depth analysis and summaries of specific legal topics.

In an article published in 2022, the ALR defines alienation as “a child who expresses, freely and persistently, unreasonable negative feelings and beliefs (such as anger, hatred, rejection, and/or fear) toward a parent that are significantly disproportionate to the child's actual experience with that parent.”

The ALR goes on to state that revenge, power, fear, jealousy and mental disability are all possible reasons that one parent may attempt to alienate a child from their co-parent. So parent alienation is “when one parent engages in active alienation of a child's affection for the other parent, or when one parent causes a child to reject the other parent, in cases involving child custody issues, including sole custody awards, the modification of standing custodial arrangements and shared custody determinations.”

Options for creating your own child custody agreement

Georgia courts strongly disfavor parental alienation. So any parent who engages in alienation is likely to lose custody of their child.

For instance, in a recent 2024 case, an appellate court determined that awarding the father primary physical custody of the child was in the child's best interest and was not an abuse of discretion. The court found the mother had “made a significant effort to alienate [the child] from [the father] during this litigation”. She also failed to support the child's relationship with both parents, engaged in a pattern of failing to follow the court's orders allowing the father parenting time and the guardian ad litem (a court-appointed special advocate for the child) recommended that it would be in child's best interest to award primary physical custody to father.

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How can you prove parental alienation?

To make a case that someone is alienating their child, you need to present evidence to the court. This evidence may include some or all of the following:

Documentation of any alienation behaviors
Witness testimony
Written communication (texts, emails, social media posts, letters, etc) demonstrating the parent’s alienating behaviors
A mental health professional’s assessment of the child and/or parent who is doing the alienating

How can you fight parental alienation?

If you believe that your coparent is trying to alienate your child against you, you can fight back. Legal actions you can seek include a custody modification, a temporary restraining order and a contempt of court action.

Custody modification

You may be able to petition the court to modify your current child custody arrangement in a way that will prevent the alienating behavior in the future. For example, you may seek to reduce the other person’s parenting time with the child or require their visitation to be supervised. However, in order to modify a custody order, you must prove that changing it is in the child’s best interest.

Temporary restraining order

If the parental alienation poses an immediate threat to the child’s well-being or safety, you may be able to file for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the alienating parent. This order might prohibit the alienating parent from contacting the child, at least until the court can consider any evidence in more detail and decide how to address the matter more permanently.

Contempt of court

The alienating parent’s actions may constitute a violation of an existing custody order. If that’s the case, you may be able to pursue a contempt of court action against them. If the parent is held in contempt of court, they may face fines, penalties or even jail time.

Need help with your custody case?

Custody cases can be complex. A lawyer can help you and your employer prepare the proper documentation, meet deadlines, and avoid costly mistakes. Marble is here to guide you through every step, making the custody case process smoother and more efficient.