Richard Ducote Testifies Before the Louisiana State Senate’s Task Force on Child Abuse Investigation Processes

Richard Duote explains why children should be questioned carefully by expert about alleged abuse.
(Louisiana Senate Video on Demand, Nov. 12, 2025) Read more →

Covington Lawyer Awarded for His Work Protecting the Abused

Covington attorney Richard Ducote was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th International Summit on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, held last month in San Diego.
(NOLA.com, Sept. 12, 2025) Read more →

Children’s Advocates Say Family Courts Unfairly Favor Fathers

Family courts don’t handle domestic violence and child abuse well. They have a mentality that these are vindictive women who don’t want their kids to have a relationship with their father.”
(Pittsburgh City Paper, Aug. 27, 2025) Read more →

Parental Alienation and Its Use in Family Courts

Parental alienation concocts this notion that if a kid exhibits certain symptoms that, incidentally, are the same symptoms of being abused, it was alienation. It’s a very clever idea.
(Pro Publica, Aug. 19, 2023)Read more →

Yes, You Can Sue Your Abuser

You can sue your abuser, just like if he ran you over with a car. It’s a very empowering remedy. Most of these abusers are bullies and bullies don’t do well when people stand up to them.
(DomesticShelters.org, Jan. 9, 2023)Read more →

A Grandmother Fights for Custody of Her Murdered Daughter’s Child.

There’s a disturbing mentality among family court judges that “we’ve got to cover up our mistakes and we’ve got to retaliate against the mothers.”
(Texas Observer, April 1, 2022)Read more →

Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Cover-Ups

Attorney Richard Ducote reveals the failures of the family court system in handling domestic violence and child abuse cases.
(AlcoholFree.com, Dec. 14, 2022)Read more →

Dr. Gardner Ruined Family Court 40 Years Ago by Making Parental Alienation the Worst Offense

“You just say it’s alienation and every symptom of abuse is just simply called evidence of alienation.”
(Frank Report.com Oct. 4 2022)Read more →

Woody Allen v. Mia Farrow: Panel Discussion

The third episode focuses on parental alienation and the family courts.
(Center for Judicial Excellence.org, 2021)Read more →

The Facilitating of the Family Court System

Richard Ducote, representing the mother, asks professional witness Robert Evans, acting for the father, several questions about the ethical basis of parental alienation. The questions were blunt and brutal, but it is the responses that are truly shocking
(Medium, Nov. 17, 2021)Read more →

Richard Ducotes Testifies Before the Maryland Legislature

Richard Duote testifies about the family court system and its inability to protect children from domestic violence and child sexual abuse, and suggests a legislative path forward. He shares horrific stories about his early experiences in Louisiana’s foster-care system. His presentation begins at the 50-minute mark.
(Maryland Legislature, July 9, 2019)Read more →

Richard Ducote Speaks His Mind in Louisiana Senate Committee Testimony

Richard Ducote testifies against Louisiana House Bill 248, which expands the use of “parenting coordinators” in child custody cases. He is concerned for both parents and children during a difficult time in their lives.
(YouTube, June 7, 2019)Read more →

When Is Killing Someone Close to You Justified?

“I would dare say in the vast majority of cases for some crime of violence against a significant other, there’s a high likelihood that that is the product of self-defense.”
(WWLTV.com,  Nov.  20,  2018)Read more →

Scandal in Plain Sight: How Media Indifference and Family Court Incompetence Fail to Protect America’s Children

Richard Ducote is one of several experts who analyze the ongoing dearth of media coverage of child custody cases involving abuse allegations brought by protective mothers. 
(CivicResearch.com, Spring 2014)

Read more →

When Is Killing Someone Close to You Justified?

“I would dare say in the vast majority of cases for some crime of violence against a significant other, there’s a high likelihood that that is the product of self-defense.”
(WWLTV.com,  Nov.  20,  2018)Read more →

The Failure of Family Courts to Protect Children from Abusers

Richard Ducote explains why no woman, despite abundant evidence of domestic violence or child sexual abuse, can walk into any family court and not face a grave risk of losing her child.
(A Battered Mother WordPress.com, 2013)Read more →

Richard Ducote Explains the Parental Alienation Syndrome to New Zealanders

Richard Ducote represented Dr. Elizabeth Morgan, who hid her American child in New Zealand to protect her daughter from her abusive father. In this video he explains how disgraced psychologist Dr. Richard Gardner used a bogus Parental Alienation Syndrome to separate children from their protective parents.

(YouTube 2012)Read more →

What If the Family Courts Operated Like the Nuremberg Trial?

Richard Ducote compares the injustices in the family court system with the way Nazis treated Jews in World War II and wonders how things would change if judges actually reviewed images and videos of children tortured by their abusers.

(YouTube 2012)Read more →

Our Approach To Your Case

Our firm focuses on the representation of domestic violence and child sexual abuse victims. It is crucial for a parent who is a victim of domestic violence or has a child who is a victim of physical or sexual abuse to understand the problematic‘Friendly Parent Paradox’ and the proper role of child custody evaluators.

(YouTube 2012)Read more →

Richard Ducote’s Call for Family Court Judges to Reclaim Their Basic Adjudicatory Role

Judges are urged to reclaim their basic adjudicatory role in fact-based custody determinations by shedding “high-conflict” custody case bias and consider evidence with an open mind. Child custody experts should not be designated as fact-finders, and children’s testimony should be heard.

(LL.M  Thesis  for Loyola  Chicago  School  of  Law,  June  10,  2010)Read more →