CAN MY NIECE TAKE LEGAL ACTION?

My 17-year-old niece went to stay in the country for several months as she wanted to get to know her father, who she had not seen much since his second marriage. She had a big row one night with her stepmother because she had been saying nasty things about my niece’s mother, calling her horrible names. Then her stepmother physically threw her out of the house at ten o’clock at night. Why would she behave this way towards her stepdaughter? The family, including my niece’s father, would like to know if we could take any legal action against her for bullying. Is this possible? Some stepmothers are lovely and work hard to have a good relationship with their stepchildren. This can take a little time as, in some cases, stepchildren resent their father having a new partner – especially if this person was involved in their parents’ marriage ending. But the behaviour of your niece’s stepmother is appalling and the fact that your niece has not seen her father since his marriage suggests that her stepmother might have been encouraging this. Perhaps she was running his ex-wife down because either she is jealous of her or, more likely, she is trying to justify why her husband left his first wife. So she is trying to portray her as a difficult or unpleasant person, which is wrong and totally unfair on your niece and her mother. Her behaviour certainly sounds abusive. Contact Teenline (01 462 2122, teenline.ie) for advice and if you decide to take it further, contact a solicitor to get legal representation. More importantly though, your niece needs her father to support her, which it sounds as though he is doing. Also, you may need to help him, if his marriage ends in divorce.