Mental Health’s Impact on Child Custody Decisions
Let’s talk about mental health and how it plays into child custody cases. I’m Tulsa family attorney Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office in Oklahoma. I’ve been practicing law for about seven years, and I want to help make law easy. Today, I want to focus on the role of mental health in child custody cases and how it can influence a judge’s decision.
This topic comes up frequently, and I think every family attorney encounters it as well. Nine times out of ten, if I’m handling a custody case, whether it’s divorce, paternity, or another matter, my client is going to say, the other side is just crazy. And I’ll be honest, there are times when I might agree with them. However, unfortunately, I’m not qualified to make that determination, and neither are my clients — unless they’re trained psychologists, in which case, yes, let’s talk about it.
The Impact of Mental Health on Custody Decisions
There are times when mental health does come into play. I’m going to use depression as my example because it’s a relatively common issue that I see come up a lot. The court’s not going to necessarily care if you’re diagnosed with depression. I hate even really calling that a mental health issue, but it is, and it can be very troubling for many people. As long as it’s been addressed, you’re seeing your doctor about it regularly, and you’re taking your medication as prescribed, that’s not going to be an issue.
It’s also certainly not going to prevent you from being able to have visitation or custody of your children. When it becomes problematic is when you’ve got un-medicated or unregulated mental health issues that deprive you of your ability to care for the children. We’re going with depression, so let’s say you’re diagnosed with depression, you go off your meds for a little bit, and it just causes you to completely shut down. You’re not able to take care of yourself, you’re not able to get yourself out of bed, feed yourself, shower, all that.
When Mental Health Affects Parenting Abilities
You, in that state, also cannot take care of your kids. You can’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of another human being. Because of that, the kids go unfed, they go unbathed, and they wear the same clothes for a few days. Documented patterns of behavior like that could come into play and negatively affect your ability or your chances of getting custody or visitation with the children.
But that’s it. No one’s going to be penalized for having a mental health problem as long as it’s being addressed, as long as it’s under control. Mental health issues are very, very important, and they cannot be taken lightly. But as long as they’re being managed, and as long as they’re not impeding your ability to take care of your children, you’re not going to be penalized for it.
Take Action with a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
If you’re in a situation where you think mental health should be a factor in your custody case, whether you have a diagnosis that you’re worried about hurting you or maybe you think that the other side has issues that need to be addressed, absolutely give me a call. I’m Tulsa family lawyer Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office, and I want to help make law easy. Call 918-879-1681 today to schedule a low-cost initial strategy session.
