“Paper Abuse”: When All Else Fails, Batterers Use Procedural Stalking

In the citing paper

“This subset of legal post-separation coercive tactics includes what Miller and Smolter (2011) labelled “paper abuse” or “procedural stalking” in their qualitative study with ten women. These actions include making false reports to child welfare authorities, frivolous lawsuits, and strategies to extend court proceedings.”

In the citing paper

“In summary, although abuse with respect to custody issues after separation from an abusive partner has been widely studied, relatively little research has examined post-separation abuse beyond child custody, and these have mostly consisted of qualitative studies with relatively small sample sizes (i.e. Crossman et al., 2016; Krigel & Benjamin, 2021; Miller & Smolter, 2011; Rivera et al., 2018; Toe”

In the citing paper

“Abusive former partners are more likely to seek sole physical and legal custody than non-abusive former partners, and are often awarded custody even with documented, substantiated and criminal convictions of IPV against the mother (Bancroft et al., 2002; Meier, 2020; Miller & Smolter, 2011; Silberg & Dallam, 2019).”

In the citing paper

“Post-separation abuse is designed to make the former partner feel powerless, and power and control is central to understanding violence towards an intimate partner (Godfrey & Robinson, 2014; Katz et al., 2020; Miller & Smolter, 2011; Stark & Hester, 2019).”

In the citing paper

“Abusers manipulate systems to prevent formal help-seeking behaviours, exert power, force contact and financially burden survivors (Miller & Smolter, 2011).”

In the citing paper

“Abusers can use aspects of the court process to humiliate and terrorize their former partners, often weaponizing their personal history (Miller & Smolter, 2011), including their mental and physical health.”

In the citing paper

“This can include litigation strategies used in response to help-seeking behaviours, such as filing for custody in response to a survivor seeking a protection order or reporting violence to police (Miller & Smolter, 2011).”

In the citing paper

“Economic deprivation can be caused by a batterer's use of court action to exhaust financial resources of their former partner, rendering them bankrupt and financially destitute (Crosse & Millar, 2017; Miller & Smolter, 2011; Toews & Bermea, 2017).”

In the citing paper

“In addition to the cost of legal representation, legal abuse can impact economic well-being including increased childcare burdens, lost productivity and transportation difficulties (Gutowski & Goodman, 2020; Miller & Smolter, 2011).”

In the citing paper

“One set of tactics serves to prolong legal cases (Douglas, 2018a; Miller & Smolter, 2011; Przekop, 2011; Watson & Ancis, 2013) -sometimes for multiple years – through actions such as charges of contempt and unfounded accusations, which can lead to extensive investigations (Watson & Ancis, 2013).”

In the citing paper

“In one of the first papers on the subject of legal abuse, Miller and Smolter (2011) proposed the existence of “paper abuse,” defined as the use of “frivolous” legal motions that are an “extension of traditional [intimate partner abuse] tactics” (p. 647).”