Arizona law strongly favors awarding parents joint decision-making authority over their children and equal parenting time with their children.\u00a0 In my experience, there are only three categories of situations where judges move away from equal decision-making and equal parenting time orders.\u00a0 The first two are cases involving significant domestic violence and cases involving significant and ongoing substance abuse.\u00a0 The third category, and the subject of this article, are cases where one parent suffers from a serious mental health problem.<\/p>\n
In a fair number of cases, divorcing or separating parents believe the other parent has a mental health issue and that that parent\u2019s rights to the children should be restricted.\u00a0 It is common for a female client to tell me that her husband or partner is a \u201cnarcissist\u201d, and that because he is a narcissist, she should be awarded primary custody.\u00a0 Almost as often, a male client may tell me that his partner is \u201cbipolar\u201d or \u201ccrazy\u201d and that because of her mental health problems, her rights to the children should be restricted.<\/p>\n
First, it is important to remember that individuals with true mental health challenges, including personality disorders, do not choose and cannot control their disorders on their own any more than a person with a physical disability can reverse the disability just by trying harder.\u00a0 A parent who recognizes her mental health challenges and properly addresses those challenges through therapy and, when appropriate, prescribed medication, may be able to manage her mental health issues so well that they have no effect on her ability to parent.<\/p>\n
In a divorce case involving children or in any child custody case, the focus should be on unresolved or unmanaged mental health issues that are accompanied by behaviors<\/em> which are harmful to children.\u00a0 If a parent does not manage his mental health challenges and, as a result, engages in behavior which is dangerous to his children, such as attempting suicide or neglecting or physically or emotionally abusing his children, then it is reasonable to expect that the judge will fashion a more restrictive child custody order the judge believes is appropriate to protect the children and ensure their welfare.<\/p>\n In certain cases, a lawyer may file a motion with the court seeking appointment of a mental health expert to perform a mental health evaluation on the parent who suffers from a mental health challenge.\u00a0 If that expert identifies behaviors exhibited by the parent\/examinee that may be harmful to the children, that expert will communicate her findings and concerns in a written report of the evaluation.\u00a0 That written report, along with the expert\u2019s oral testimony, may be offered as evidence in court when the case goes to trial.\u00a0 Such evidence is often quite persuasive and may result in a judge awarding restricted parenting time or decision-making authority to the afflicted parent.<\/p>\n Similarly, a parent with an actual or alleged mental health issue may employ an expert witness himself to evaluate him and report to the court that either a) no disorder was found or b) that the parent is appropriately managing the problem and that there is no reason to restrict the parent\u2019s decision-making authority or parenting time with his children.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2021 by Scoresby Family Law \u2013 J. Kyle Scoresby, P.C. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arizona law strongly favors awarding parents joint decision-making authority over their children and equal parenting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[207,248,250,249,68],"class_list":["post-3318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-child-custody","tag-decision-making","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-evaluation","tag-mental-health-expert","tag-parenting-time"],"yoast_head":"\n