SPECIAL TESTIMONY IN PARENTAL ALIENATION CASES

EXCEPTIONAL USE OF CHILD HEARING AND PREFERENCE FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND SOCIAL STUDY UNDER CNJ GUIDELINES AND TJSC JOINT RESOLUTION GP/CGJ N. 12/2025

Abstract

This article analyzes the use of special testimony of children and adolescents in family proceedings involving parental alienation, in light of the Brazilian National Council of Justice Protocol, CNJ Recommendation No. 157/2024, and Joint Resolution GP/CGJ No. 12/2025 of the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina. It assumes that parental alienation, recognized by Law N. 13.431/2017 as a form of psychological violence, requires careful, interdisciplinary, and non- -adult-centered judicial action. It argues that, in highly contentious family proceedings, direct hearing may intensify loyalty conflicts, expose the child or adolescent to parental triangulation, and turn the justice system into a new space of institutional violence. The article concludes that special testimony is legally possible, but must be used only in very exceptional circumstances, when there is clear and justified legal necessity, without replacing psychological assessment, social study, or biopsychosocial evaluation, which must remain the preferred means for understanding family dynamics.