Adverse Affect on Abuse Allegations

On Tuesday, the Mississippi Court of Appeals handed down James v. James located here.  The Court made note of one issue that is important to note.  During the case, there were all kinds of abuse allegations which turned out to be false against Mr. James.  As a result in part, Mr. James sought custody of the minor children which the chancellor denied.  The main issue that was affirmed by the Court of Appeals was that there was no proof of adverse affect on the children as a result of the false allegations.  The father was the only one adversely affected and not the children.  To me, this sets up some potential bad situations which I have seen first hand unfortunately where one parent will make these allegations to gain leverage in a custody case or to seek modification.  Even after the allegations are proven false, it still leaves a stink which can harm the innocent party.