Beth Tibbott: When Your Ex Lies in a Custody Case

Your ex has worked out that making you look unhinged is how they win in family court. Every text is bait. Beth Tibbott starts her advice right there: you are not powerless the moment you leave, and silence, patience, and a plan are the tools you use to take that power back.

Beth Tibbott is a founding partner at Tibbott & Richardson in Pennsylvania, where she practices both family law and criminal defense, a combination that gives her an unusually clear view of how the two systems get used against each other. Her route in was roundabout: a psychology degree, early volunteer work with CASA advocating for kids in court, and a stretch when she was certain family law was not for her, before landing exactly where she started. Her firm serves Pennsylvania and can also work with clients in Ohio and New Jersey.

Beth explains why an attorney who appears to be doing nothing may be waiting on purpose, refusing to hand the other side the reaction it is fishing for. She lays out how to vet a lawyer who claims to understand high-conflict behavior, why she counts careful stewardship of your money among her firm's core values, and how one phone call to police can set an entire false-allegation strategy in motion. She is candid about opposing counsel who bully and lie, and why answering that with a bully of your own tends to empty your account while the case goes nowhere.

She also teaches the cross-examination approach at the center of her method: build your story one fact and one question at a time until the person on the stand has nowhere left to go. Beth talks through rebuilding an ordinary life after leaving, from finances to housing, and why a personal introduction beats a search-engine result when you need a professional you can trust. And she gives concrete guidance on two situations parents ask about constantly: video calls with a toddler who will not stay in frame, and a teenager who does not want to spend the night.

As always, this is strategic education, not legal or mental-health advice for your specific situation.

🎓 What you'll learn

• Why a lawyer who looks like they are doing nothing may be running a patient, deliberate strategy
• How to test whether an attorney really understands high-conflict behavior, past the buzzwords
• Why treating legal fees as money to protect changes which fights are worth having
• How the criminal system gets used as leverage through a single false allegation
• Why hiring a bully to fight a bully usually just burns money and stalls the case
• How to spot the red herrings a difficult ex uses to keep you reacting
• The one-fact, one-question method for telling your story under cross-examination
• Why gray rock can backfire in a custody case, even when it helps in a divorce without kids

⏱️ Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:00 From a psychology degree and CASA to family law
5:00 Why a lawyer doing "nothing" is often the strategy
7:00 Does your lawyer really understand high-conflict behavior?
15:00 Why money is a core value, and protecting yours
19:00 How the criminal system gets used as leverage
21:00 Opposing counsel bullies, and why not to hire your own
25:00 Rebuilding your home life, and vetted referrals
29:00 Red herrings, and the one-fact cross-examination method
39:00 Taking back your power, and communication coaching
45:00 Video calls with toddlers, and teens who refuse overnights

Keep going 💜
Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll help you map your next steps: https://beentheregotout.com/call
📘 Been There Got Out: Toxic Relationships, High-Conflict Divorce, and How to Stay Sane Under Insane Circumstances — https://www.amazon.com/dp/194627495X
📘 Been There Got Out: When Your Ex Turns the Kids Against You (our parental-alienation book) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967674183
🔗 Beth Tibbott at Tibbott & Richardson: https://www.tibbottrichardson.com/our-team/attorney-beth-tibbott/

About Been There Got Out
Chris Barry and Lisa Johnson are high-conflict divorce, custody, and co-parenting strategists, and the founders of Been There Got Out. They know these cases from the inside: both have successfully represented themselves in family court. Few attorneys have a playbook for a case like this — Chris and Lisa write yours with you, so you and your kids can get through it as unscathed as possible.