When Addiction and Antisocial Behavior Collide in Custody

High conflict custody cases are hard enough—but when one parent also demonstrates antisocial personality traits alongside addiction and a pattern of long-term deception, standard parenting plans fall short in ways that can leave a child at real risk. Antisocial personality disorder appears in family court more often than most people realize, and it requires a fundamentally different approach to court orders, parenting plans, and relapse planning.

Bill Eddy, LCSW, JD, and Megan Hunter, MBA, co-founders of the High Conflict Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, walk through how to recognize the pattern, what to actually say to a family court judge, and how to build a relapse plan directly into a custody agreement as a court order. They also cover monitoring options, supervised contact, and why no-contact orders should be extremely rare. This is part one of a two-part conversation.

It’s All Your Fault is produced by TruStory FM.

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Important Notice: Our discussions focus on behavioral patterns rather than diagnoses. For specific legal or therapeutic guidance, please consult qualified professionals in your area.

• (00:00) - Welcome to It's All Your Fault
• (00:58) - High Conflict Behavior, Addiction, and Child Custody
• (01:49) - Case Setup
• (04:00) - Pattern Recognition
• (08:50) - Traits
• (10:05) - Feined Connection
• (11:58) - What to Do
• (15:04) - Back to the Case
• (22:08) - Monitoring Services
• (23:40) - Parenting Plan
• (27:11) - No Contact Order?
• (29:43) - Defining More Extreme Personalities
• (33:16) - Wrap Up