The legal system in the United Kingdom has seen argument about parental alienation and parental alienation syndrome as is illustrated by comments the following cases:

He'd been reading up on "parental alienation syndrome," which he believed might apply in his case.

Baldwin called this parental alienation syndrome.

Richard A. Gardner proposed parental alienation syndrome in the 1980s based on his clinical experience with the children of divorcing parents.

Warshak analyses this controversy and presents arguments both for and against the use of the term, parental alienation syndrome, in court.

Parental alienation syndrome was a term coined by child psychiatrist Richard A. Gardner drawing upon his clinical experiences since the early 1980s.

Court filings quickly fill with mutual accusations by one parent against the other, including sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, brain-washing, parental alienation syndrome, sabotage, and manipulation.

Some others cite the parental alienation syndrome as a reason to grant custody to fathers.

In June 2010 it was reported that a constitutional amendment incorporating parental alienation syndrome into the Brazilian legal code would have a bearing on child custody cases.

Gardner's theory of a "parental alienation syndrome" focused on how one parent may misuse the powers of socialization to turn a child against a once loved parent.