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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Watch this episode on YouTube (youtu.be/2GTatvm_gSM)
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