Research Framework: Families in high conflict separation situations disproportionately use the courts, lawyers and psychosocial resources, and use multiple systems simultaneously. Professionals feel powerless to intervene with them and to tend to hold negative perceptions about them. The individual characteristics they perceive in parents must be studied because of their importance in understanding both the interpersonal dynamics of these parents and the challenges of professional intervention.

Objectives: This study aims to identify the perceptions of legal and psychosocial professionals regarding the individual characteristics of parents involved in high conflict situations.

Methodology: A thematic content analysis was conducted on two types of documents, including the files kept by the psychotherapists participating in the Parenting-Conflict-Resolution protocol and the court decisions rendered in family situations that were admitted to the same protocol.

Results: The discourse of judges and psychologists reveals their perception of the individual characteristics of parents involved in high conflict family separations, such as distrust, opposition, lack of empathy, impulsiveness, lack of introspection and self-criticism, and immature defense mechanisms.

Conclusions: This article highlights the perceptions of legal and psychosocial professionals regarding individual characteristics of parents involved in high conflict situations. Our results show how these individual characteristics might generate difficulties in interpersonal relationships and impact their use of the various psychosocial and legal systems.

Contribution: The results of this study document the perceptions of legal and psychosocial professionals regarding the individual characteristics of parents experiencing high conflict separation, which supports reflections on the needs of these families and the challenges faced by the legal and psychosocial service systems with them.

• family
• marital separation
• family conflict
• psychology
• justice system

https://journals.openedition.org/efg/13515