Protecting Your Children From Your Soon-To-Be Ex's Cult

If you are concerned that your soon-to-be ex has joined a cult and intends on raising your children in it, you would naturally be concerned. There are some things you should do as you prepare to divorce.

Get Accurate Information about the Religion/Organization/Group

You should find out all you can about the group before coming to judgment about it. It could be that you have some inaccurate ideas about it from things you have heard coming from uninformed or prejudicial sources. If you take the time to look into it, you might decide that you do not have an issue with the group, and/or this will increase the odds of a positive impression you will give later in court regarding your reasonableness and diligence.

All religious groups can be rated from a continuum from low control to high control or even extreme control over members' lives. Sometimes the term "cult" is used unfairly against new or progressive religious movements.

After you have gained some reliable information about the group, you might decide that its beliefs have some positive benefits for your children that outweigh the things you don't like.

Consider These Issues

Issues that should be looked into are:

• Promoting strange or unsafe beliefs about health and medical treatment,
• Showing any indication that your input, influence, or time with the children could be curtailed or negatively impacted by the group or its beliefs,
• Having social aspects that could impact your child's future opportunities or education,
• Promoting practices that are illegal,
• Displaying high restrictive control over living arrangements,
• Having allegations of physical or mental abuse within the group from present or former members, or
• Having any other safety issues.

Talk to Your Ex and Try to Come to a Reasonable Agreement

If at all possible, it is preferable for you and your ex to come to an agreement about religion before going into court. It's always possible that your ex may be willing to compromise with you on certain areas if you show that you are also willing to be reasonable.

If you practice another religion or are atheist/agnostic, then a proviso can be written into the divorce agreement that the children will be exposed to the viewpoints and practices of the parent they are with during custody arrangements or visitation.

Seek Restrictions against Harmful Practices

If there are practices that you don't want your children to be exposed to and your ex is stubbornly refusing to acknowledge your objections, you will want to be fully prepared to present a case in court about these. Judges generally favor freedom of religious expression, so you will need to convince them that there need to be restrictions in place to protect the children from exposure to the dangerous or harmful aspects of the religion.

Ask for Full or Joint Custody

If your ex ends up with full custody, they may be solely responsible for the choice of religion that the children will belong to. For this reason, you will want to ask for sole or shared custody of your children so you can either make the decision, or have some input.

You will need to seek the advice of a family lawyer to help you come up with an arrangement that will be fair and protect your children's interests. For more information, contact Grenadier, Starace, Duffett & Keisler, PC or a similar firm.