Can A Mental Health Counselor’s Testimony Affect The Outcome Of Your Co-Parenting Dispute?

Most people who get divorced do not do so on a whim.  They only file for divorce after they have tried to resolve their differences with their spouse and reached the conclusion that their efforts will not work.  Some states recognize covenant marriage, although Alabama does not; in a covenant marriage, the court will not accept a couple’s divorce petition unless and until the couple has undergone counseling with a clergy member or licensed marriage counselor.  Despite this, many couples participate in marriage counseling before deciding to divorce.  The spouses and their children may also go to counseling during and after divorce.  In most divorce cases, nothing you say to a counselor will reach anyone else’s ears; this is what medical privacy laws are for.  Despite this, the court may summon a counselor who has treated you or one of your family members as a witness in your divorce or co-parenting case.  If your ex-spouse is trying to use family counselors against you in your parenting plan case, contact a Birmingham child custody lawyer.

Can Family Counselors Make Your Divorce Worse?

Every divorce where the couple’s children are minors includes a court-ordered parenting plan.  It determines which overnights during the year the children will spend with each parent.  It also deals with matters such as transporting the children from one parent’s house to the other and how the parents will handle decisions about the children’s education and non-emergency medical care.  The parenting plan is the basis for child support, which the courts calculate by applying a statewide mathematical formula to the parenting plan and the parents’ respective incomes.

Most parenting plans are the result of an agreement reached by the parents during mediation.  Only when the parents reach an impasse does the court set the parenting plan after the divorce trial.  The court bases its decisions about parenting time on the children’s best interests.  It aims to implement a parenting plan that enables the children to maintain a stable relationship with both parents.  The parents may summon witnesses to testify at trial; these may include teachers, extended family members, physicians, or anyone else who has observed the children and has relevant information about the children’s wellbeing and relationships with their parents.

If you or your ex-spouse summon a family counselor as a witness, your lawyers may ask the counselor about his or her assessment of your children’s best interests.  In one Alabama case, a father sued a family counselor who had treated his teenage son.  The counselor had written a letter to the boy’s mother’s lawyer, and the mother had shared it with other people.  The father claimed that the counselor defamed him and revealed information that should be protected by counselor-patient confidentiality.

Contact Peeples Law About Going to Trial Over a Parenting Plan

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you if you and your ex-spouse disagree about your parenting plan and your children’s best interests.  Contact Peeples Law today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1106197418071509958&q=divorce+river&hl=en&as_sdt=4,61,62,64&as_ylo=2015&as_yhi=2025