What if your ex is harassing you through the courts?

What is court harassment?

Court-related abuse and harassment happens when one party in a family law action uses the legal system or repeated or ongoing legal actions to harass and abuse the other party. The following are some examples of this type of harassment — when the abuser:

• repeatedly threatens to go to court to get custody of the children;
• makes multiple court applications — sometimes at different or wrong courts — to get, change, and overturn court orders, or makes incorrect applications, or files affidavits just before going to court, knowing the other party doesn't have a lawyer;
• humiliates the other party in court by using a history of health problems against the party (for example, post-partum depression or mental illness), or lies about actions that didn't happen, such as adultery, to cause shame to the family;
• makes false claims, such as denial of access, or gets friends or family to write false affidavits, or self-inflicts an injury to create evidence of abuse that doesn't exist, or makes up a crisis to get into court quickly when the other party doesn't have a lawyer;
• uses court delaying tactics to cause financial hardship for the other party, often in cases of child support or other maintenance, or makes multiple settlement offers to deliberately add to the other party's legal costs;
• isolates the other party from support workers/lawyers, or threatens or pressures advocates, lawyers, family members, or friends who are helping the other party;
• uses public services, such as the police and child protection workers, to make false accusations (such as denial of access), or shows police out-dated court orders to gain access, which can result in the other party filing unnecessary court paperwork and giving the abuser time to get a court order; or
• confuses the situation by pretending to be the abused person when police are called, or charges assault when the other party is defending him/herself, or forces the other party to drop charges and then uses that in court to prove the other party is lying.

If you're financially eligible, you may qualify for legal representation (a lawyer paid by legal aid) because of these or similar instances of court-related harassment. For more information about legal representation, see the legal aid Serious family problems and How to apply for legal aid pages.