Parental ÄAienation Syndrome (abbreviated as PAS) is a term coined by Richard A. Gardner in the early 1980s to refer to what he describes as a disorder in which a child, on an ongoing basis, belittles and insults one parent without justification, due to a combination of factors, including indoctrination by the other parent (almost exclusively as part of a child custody dispute) and the child's own attempts to denigrate the target parent ( definition from: Wikipedia)

PAS has significance in divorce and parental rights cases, especially in cases where the children are separated from one of their parents and live with the other parent. In these cases very often children refuse to contact with the parent from whom they have been separated.

In such of cases it is very often when a psychiatric expertise from a court psychologist is prepared for the purpose of custody issue where the PAS could be investigated.  It is very often in the practice of the Bulgarian courts where, due to the PAS, the parental rights are granted to that parent from whom the children have been separated because it is accepted that this would help for restoring of the parent - child relationship. However, as divorce cases are personal cases, the possible outcome from the case regarding the custody depends on the particular judge and the particular approach of the respective lawyers.

 

This article is prepared by “Valova and Angelova” Law firm