Poor behavior towards ex may mean less child custody

Bad behavior towards the parent of your child could result in having fewer child custody privileges.
To the court, an abusive or mean-spirited attitude toward the other parent is always significant if the behavior takes place in the child's presence. No child should be exposed to the ill feelings between parents that often survive a breakup or divorce.  Even more serious is when incidents of domestic violence are witnessed by children. Just as harmful is when children hear hurtful comments about a parent from "third parties" such as the other parent's friends or family members.
Often the court's remedy is to cut back on the offending parent's custody time as a way to reduce the child's exposure to negative or hateful influences. This type of remedy also serves to punish the offending parent with the realization that offensive behavior and poor parenting has its consequences.
Sometimes courts can be quite strict in promoting ths policy. A Berks County judge in October ruled that a father would have his weekend custody time cut in half due to his abusive communications with mother, even though some of these communications were via text messages and not verbalized in the child's presence. Moroever, the judge found that father was irresponsible when he missed or was late to several custody exchanges.
The court ruled that "father will have to establish a positive track record over a period of time..." and "show that he can cooperate with mother. ..." to earn back his prior custody privileges. Although the judge stated that both parents needed to improve their communication and co-parenting skills, the fact that father was the parent who suffered sanctions indicates the court found father responsible for the problems.