Noted Canadian family law attorney Brian Ludmer delivered a presentation at the Parental Alienation Study Group (PASG) 2025 Conference in Toronto, Ontario on September 12, 2025. The presentation addressed one of the most challenging areas of family law, namely, how to effectively prove parental alienation (PA) in court, as well as before therapists and child protection authorities.
Aptly titled Proving Your Case in Court, in Therapy, to Assessors and to Child Protection Authorities, the slide-and-lecture-based presentation concentrated on the practical and evidentiary challenges faced by parents and legal professionals navigating high-conflict child custody disputes.
At the outset of the session, Ludmer referenced the landmark 1991 Quebec Superior Court decision PSM v. AJLC, in which Justice Gomery recognized the serious emotional harm done when children are influenced by one parent to reject the other. Justice Gomery, to whom Ludmer paid tribute at an earlier PASG conference, went on to endorse intervention in the case, including ordering protective separation.
Brian Ludmer then delivered the substance of his talk, outlining the many systemic issues faced by alienated parents in the present day that serve to undermine proper intervention and the delivery of justice. He also explained some of the more effective tools available to alienated parents and their legal representatives to establish causality, respond to false narratives, and achieve positive and timely results.
In his presentation, Ludmer was careful to emphasize that conventional approaches, such as individual therapy, one-sided assessments, and unstructured child-led processes, are often ineffective in PA cases. Instead, he extolled the virtues of structured, systemic interventions supported by clear court orders.
Ludmer, who was recently quoted in a National Post column by Barbara Kay about Bill C-223 (a proposal with dire implications for divorce in Canada), also highlighted several common pitfalls in the handling of PA cases. Among these are the prevalence of false or evolving allegations, the inherent challenge of “proving a negative,” and the shaky legal ground of certain types of testimony reliant on children’s memories. Additionally, he cautioned that children’s stated preferences for custody must be judged in the proper context, as they may be subject to coaching from one parent rather than expressing their own independent views. He concluded his talk by pointing out that institutional delays and flawed approaches can cause lasting harm to both children and alienated parents by undermining the natural bond between them.
The presentation was part of PASG’s ongoing efforts to promote greater understanding of parental alienation as a concept and improve legal outcomes for families. Those efforts will be further bolstered by the premiere of a series of video interviews recorded during various PASG meetings over the years, including the 2025 Toronto Conference, both on YouTube and the PASG website (https://www.pasg.info).
These conversations, which have been edited down to approximately 5-20 minutes each, were conceived as a means to showcase important lessons from PASG speakers in an accessible and easy-to-digest manner. Brian Ludmer’s own segment taped on March 21, 2026, and is scheduled to make its debut online on May 3, 2026.
For those interested in a preview, a montage of highlights from the interviews with PASG speakers from the 2025 Conference in Toronto is currently available on YouTube. Similar montages from all recent conferences are available on the PASG website.
About Brian Ludmer
Brian Ludmer is a Canadian attorney with more than 30 years of experience in business law and family law, with a specialization in high-conflict custody litigation and parental alienation cases. He is the founder of the Toronto-based legal firm Ludmer Law.
Recognized both within his home country and internationally for his years of work advocating for shared parenting and his contributions to legal and policy discussions on PA, Ludmer is also a co-founder of the group Lawyers for Shared Parenting. Additionally, he serves on the advisory boards of several leading organizations operating in the same field, including the International Support Network for Alienated Families and the Parental Alienation Awareness Organization. Brian Ludmer is also a co-author of The High-Conflict Custody Battle: Protect Yourself and Your Kids from a Toxic Divorce, False Accusations, and Parental Alienation, and helped to draft Canada’s proposed equal shared parenting amendment, Bill C-560.
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