How Much Can the Divorce Court Micromanage Your Mental Health?
Sometimes the narrative about mental health seems to be changing. Social media personalities who post content about their experiences with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues attract millions of viewers. Clinical psychologists, mental health counselors, and other mental health professionals find their services in such high demand that many of them have changed their voicemail greetings to say that they can no longer accept inquiries from new patients for the foreseeable future. Everyone you know has probably called a mental health crisis hotline at least once and been relieved when someone answered, whether they have told you this or not. Despite all of this, when your ex-spouse says that you are mentally ill, it comes across as an insult, not as a relief. No one will be surprised to find out that people often accuse their ex-spouses of having undiagnosed mental illnesses, but the family courts do not base parenting time decisions on allegations about undiagnosed mental illnesses. If you think that your spouse’s state of mental health should be a factor in the court’s parenting time decisions, you can petition the court to order your spouse to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, but the court will only do this if it determines that there is a compelling reason to do so. If your ex thinks that the cause of your stress is an undiagnosed mental illness, but you think that the cause of your stress is your ex’s behavior, contact a Boca Raton child custody lawyer.
Court Rules That Ex-Wife’s Allegations of Abuse Are Within the Range of Normal Divorce Drama
Two healthcare professionals in the Florida panhandle had an acrimonious divorce, and the court ordered them to rotate custody of their two sons each week. This parenting time arrangement arose after both parents, at the court’s insistence, underwent mental health counseling to manage their anger and stress. They ended up back in court, though, since the former wife repeatedly alleged that the younger son was being sexually abused during the former husband’s parenting time. The former wife never called the police, but she raised her concerns with the child’s doctor, leading to the doctor extensively interviewing and examining the child to determine whether the mother’s concerns were justified.
The former husband petitioned the court to order the former wife to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, but the court denied his request. It disagreed with his claim that the medical examinations had emotionally harmed the child. It also argued that the mother’s emotional reactions were within normal range for the behavior of a recently divorced parent. Typically, the court only orders mental health evaluations in co-parenting cases if it believes that the parent’s mental health problems are endangering the children.
Contact Schwartz | White About High Conflict Co-Parenting
A South Florida family law attorney can help you if your ex-spouse is behaving so erratically that you are concerned for your children’s wellbeing. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1086172198302831045&q=divorce+anxiety&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2015&as_yhi=2025
