Avoid using videos of children in family law disputes

 
Parents involved in family law disputes should avoid using videos or recordings of children — unless their purpose is to demonstrate the child’s safety is at risk, Vaughan family lawyer Paul Mazzeo says.
 
Mazzeo, principal of Mazzeo Law, says there are sometimes situations where pictures and other media might prove important as evidence, but usually, that would involve situations where the protection of a child is at stake and there are no better ways to present that evidence.
 
“This has come up quite a bit and is something that worries me,” says Mazzeo, whose family law practice includes a large amount of litigation.
 
He points to a hypothetical situation involving a parent instructing the child to talk about how they were abused or mistreated and recording it using a cellphone.

“That makes me incredibly uncomfortable — as a person and as a family lawyer,” he says, adding that he hasn’t had to deal with that specific set of circumstances in court.
 
Because the child should be the primary consideration in family law, his or her protection is paramount, and taping them with a view to creating evidence against the other parent should be avoided, Mazzeo says.
 
At best, media documentation involving the child should be made without their knowing participation, he suggests.
 
“The only way I’d feel completely comfortable with it is if two consenting adults were having some kind of an exchange and both knew that it was being recorded,” says Mazzeo. “If you’re using video or audio to trump up the evidence against your former spouse, I think that’s repugnant, to be honest.”
 
He says the judges he’s come before are always sensitive to the needs of the child as well as to the impact the litigation may have on them.
 
But, Mazzeo adds, each case is different and determining what’s admissible occurs on a case-by-case basis.
 
“I would be cringing if I was the lawyer bringing that into court,” he says. “The kids would be the victims in that scenario.”
 
Where Mazzeo says media evidence can prove useful is when there is noticeable abuse, noting that in such a case the evidence should be gathered without the knowledge of the child, particularly if it’s being used against the other parent.
 
He worked on a case where a child was malnourished and had been abused by one parent and his client took photographs of the child’s injuries.
 
“In that instance, I used the pictures because I think they told a story,” Mazzeo says, adding that the issue was the protection of the child.
 
But overall, he would prefer to not use recordings or media involving children in a fight between two parents.
 
“It’s a very sensitive and difficult thing, especially when we’re talking about kids,” Mazzeo says. “It’s a slippery slope and there are better ways to get evidence.”
 
For more family law news and information please visit http://www.mazzeolaw.ca/

The post Avoid using videos of children in family law disputes appeared first on Family Lawyer | Family Law Office | Mazzeo Law Firm | Vaughan, ON.