Tag: Child custody psychology

Child Custody Fight Club

Posted by Ron Kauffman on November 19, 2018

The child custody battle between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is set to go to a trial next month because the parents can’t agree about the future of their six children after two years of litigating.

According to USA Today, the couple could still reach an agreement out of court and put the messy breakup of their family behind them, but lately their ability to see eye-to-eye seems to have deserted them.

The two stars’ legal teams have been in negotiations since September 2016, when Jolie filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences and “the health of the family” after 12-years together, two of those years in what we later learned wasn’t wedded bliss.

Fury

Their custody dispute comes down to this: She wants sole physical custody of their six kids, ranging in age from 10 to 17; he wants to share physical custody.

According to a document filed Monday in Los Angeles County’s Family Court, Pitt and Jolie have asked for an extension to June 30, 2019, on the appointment of retired Judge as a temporary “private” judge in their case.

He has handled all pre-trial issues and motions and will preside over the custody trial, scheduled for Dec. 4, likely behind closed doors and not at a public courthouse.

Sole Child Custody

The question about an award of sole custody of children frequently comes up and is a matter I’ve written about before. Many people are surprised to learn that the term “custody” is no longer recognized in Florida.

Florida replaced the “custody” term for the “parenting plan” concept in order to avoid labeling parents as “visiting parent” or “primary parent” in the hopes of making child custody issues less controversial.

Under Florida’s parenting plan concept, both parents enjoy shared parental responsibility and a time-sharing schedule. “Shared parental responsibility” means both parents retain full parental rights and responsibilities and have to confer with each other so that major decisions affecting their child are made jointly.

A time-sharing schedule, as the name suggests, is simply a timetable that is included in the parenting plan that specifies the times, including overnights and holidays, that your child spends with each parent.

Florida’s parenting plan concept has changed sole custody into “sole parental responsibility.” The term means that only one parent makes decisions regarding the minor child, as opposed to the shared parental responsibility terms, where both parents make decisions jointly.

How do you get sole custody in Florida?

Sole parental responsibility, or sole custody as people generally call it, has been made more difficult to obtain. Florida’s public policy is for each child to have frequent and continuing contact with both parents after a divorce.

Because of Florida’s public policy, courts order shared parental responsibility unless the court finds that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child.

In those cases where detriment is proved, the court orders sole parental responsibility to one parent, with or without time-sharing with the other parent, if it is in the best interests of the minor child.

World War Z?

The couple have had a bitter divorce that has been frequently in the news. In November 2017, Jolie claimed she and Pitt had reached an interim custody agreement in which she would continue to have sole physical custody of the kids. But Pitt immediately disputed that.

In June 2018, a judge warned Jolie that if she didn’t start encouraging the children to forge relationships with Pitt, she could be in danger of losing custody.

Then in August 2018, a Jolie bombshell: she accused Pitt of not paying “meaningful” child support. Pitt hit back, arguing he’s paid over $1.3m in bills for her and the children.

All of this makes matrimonial lawyers despair:

Do they want their children to say “My mom and dad kept it between themselves and just let us know how much they loved us and always supported our relationship with the other parent, or My mother hated my father and let us all know it?”

The USA Today article is here.

Hollaback Girls Mediate Custody

Posted by Ron Kauffman on September 24, 2018

Singer, Gwen Stefani and her ex-husband, Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale, are trying to reduce the ‘misery’ of ‘people at war’ and mediate their child custody problems years after finalizing their divorce. But, how does a court resolve child custody disputes like this?

custody

The Chemicals Between Us

A source tells E! News the pair are “going to mediation” because of disagreements regarding their three son’s upbringing. They don’t agree on custody and the time the kids are spending with each of them.

Since Gavin recently finished his tour with Bush and will be home more often, he wants more time with their three sons. However, the source says, “Gwen believes that she provides a consistent living environment and that the kids should be with her the majority of the time.”

“They are older now and taking their school work and activities seriously. She thinks Gavin still very much lives a rock star lifestyle and it’s in the kid’s best interest to be with her.”

More importantly, the source says, “She wants to raise the kids a certain way and it’s very challenging because Gavin has different priorities.”

The Little Things of Florida Custody

I’ve written about child custody issues before. In 2008, Florida modified its custody laws to get rid of outdated and negative terminology about divorcing parents and their children to reduce animosity.

The law did that by creating new legal concepts such as “shared parental responsibility, “parenting plan”, and “time-sharing schedule.

Shared parental responsibility, is similar to joint physical and legal custody, and is a relationship in which both parents retain their full parental rights and responsibilities. Under shared parental responsibility, parents are required to confer with each other and jointly make major decisions affecting the welfare of their children.

In Florida, shared parental responsibility is the preferred relationship between parents when a marriage or a relationship ends. In fact, courts are instructed to order parents to share parental responsibility of a child unless it would be detrimental to the child. Issues relating to children’s timesharing are major decisions affecting the welfare of children. When parents cannot agree, the dispute is resolved in court.

At the trial, the test applied is the best interests of the child. Determining the best interests of a child is no longer entirely subjective. Instead, the decision is based on an evaluation of certain factors affecting the welfare and interests of the child and the circumstances of the child’s family.

For these parents, courts will want to know how long the children have lived in a stable, satisfactory environment, and the desirability of maintaining that continuity. Where the parents live is also very important, especially with school-age children.

Also, what are the home, school, and community records of the children, and which parent provides a consistent routine for the children, such as discipline, and daily schedules for homework, meals, and bedtime.

Everything Zen

Following their split in 2015, the boys have spent a majority of their time with Gwen in Los Angeles while Gavin has toured with Bush and completed a brief stint as a judge on The Voice U.K.. Gavin touched on this when he talked to The Sun’s Fabulousmagazine.

“It was weird because I had to go and make a home from scratch that could compare to the great one they already have. That was the challenge for me as a dad.”

Gwen has since found love with country singer Blake Shelton, who gets on very well with the boys. The couple has even taken vacations with the children together.

The E! News article is here.

Custody & Addiction

Posted by Ron Kauffman on May 8, 2017

Custody and addiction do not mix, as the Pitts are finding out. Brad Pitt is opening up for the first time about his pending divorce from Angelina Jolie. The 53-year-old actor says he has quit drinking since then and is seeing a therapist.

The Pitt Divorce

Pitt tells GQ Style magazine that the recent chaos in his personal life was “self-inflicted.” Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September, days after it was reported that Pitt was abusive toward their 15-year-old son on a plane. Pitt was eventually cleared by authorities.

Custody & Substance Abuse

Alcohol is legal, and certain type of drugs – although illegal in Florida, but becoming legal in many states – can have a big impact in your custody or divorce trial, because it impacts how the court crafts a parenting plan, including the time-sharing with children.

Generally, for purposes of establishing or modifying any kind of parenting plan – which governs each parent’s relationship with his or her child and the relationship between each parent – courts look to the best interest of the child as the primary consideration.

However, what does the “best interest” test for child custody mean when discussing drug or alcohol abuse?

A determination of the best interests is made by evaluating a number of statutory factors affecting the welfare and interests of the child and the family, including, the parents’ ability to maintain a substance abuse free environment for the child.

An interesting area of law, and one in which I’ve litigated at the trial and appeal levels is how do you prove a parent is addicted to drugs or alcohol? The easy answer is testing, but testing is not always easy.

A compulsory drug testing is authorized only when the party submitting the request has good cause for the examination. Under the rule, if you request your spouse get tested, you have the burden of showing both the “in controversy” and “good cause” prongs have been satisfied before the court can order testing.

Addiction & Divorce

I’ve written about the intersection of addiction and custody before. Ironically, scientists at the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions found that couples where only one spouse was a heavy drinker had a much higher divorce rate than other couples.

However, when both spouses were heavy drinkers, the divorce rate was the same as for couples who were not heavy drinkers at all. And that’s the surprising outcome:

50% of couples in which one partner was imbibing significantly more than their spouse ended up divorcing. However, that number dropped to 30% for couples who possessed similar drinking habits, regardless of if they were heavy or light drinkers.

What researchers have concluded is that heavy drinking spouses may be more tolerant of negative experiences related to alcohol due to their own drinking habits.

The Pitts

Make no mistake, heavy drinking can ruin your life. From a divorce perspective, it is interesting that divorce rates are worst for marriages in which one spouse drinks heavy and the other does not. The research may mean that differing behavior is to blame, not alcohol.

Brad Pitt says he and Jolie have agreed to “work together” on shared custody of their six children because it’s “very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart.”

Pitt says he has to focus less on work and more on listening to his children.

Custody and Psychological Records

Posted by admin on October 28, 2016

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Custody on Friday, October 28, 2016.

In a child custody case, an Indiana court just ruled that a law allowing a psychologist to deny a child patient access to his records does not apply to parents obtaining those records.

The Indiana father wanted to see his child’s mental health records for his custody case, but the doctor and counselor took the position that Indiana law prevented the release of the records based upon the doctors’ opinions.

In Florida, parents are the natural guardians of their children. We generally presume that when children lack the capacity to make certain decisions, their parents – as their natural guardians – make those decisions for them.

But not always. Children have a right of privacy in some decisions, for example the right to seek an abortion, without parental consent, so parents cannot in all circumstances control the exercise of their child’s rights.

I’ve written about children’s issues previously. Children can invoke and waive constitutional rights without their parents. A minor may waive the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.

For medical decisions specifically, there are several statutory provisions that appear to limit parents’ access to their child’s medical records.

For example, under the Baker Act, a parent, as natural guardian, is entitled access to “appropriate” clinical records of the minor patient. While parents are entitled to hospital records of their children, these records may not always include psychiatric care records.

While, Florida law generally provides for confidentiality between a patient and a psychiatrist at the request of the patient or the patient’s legal representative, can the parents of a child waive that right if the child insists on confidentiality?

The answer may depend on the facts of a given case. Since a child has a privilege in the confidentiality of his communications with his psychotherapist, if his parents are in litigation over the best interests of the child, (such as in a custody case) the parents may not assert or waive the privilege on their child’s behalf.

The Indiana case is here.