[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/blog\/how-does-mental-healthy-affect-divorce-or-child-custody-proceedings\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/blog\/how-does-mental-healthy-affect-divorce-or-child-custody-proceedings\/","headline":"How Does Mental Health Affect Divorce or Child Custody Proceedings","name":"How Does Mental Health Affect Divorce or Child Custody Proceedings","description":"When a spouse or co-parent struggles with mental illness, it often affects relationships. Sometimes mental health problems affect the relationship so much that it contributes to the collapse of the relationship.\u00a0When clients visit us, they often ask us how their mental illness or their spouse or co-parent\u2019s behaviors will affect the divorce or child custody. […]","datePublished":"2021-11-29","dateModified":"2025-09-15","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/blog\/author\/james-kraayeveld\/#Person","name":"James Kraayeveld","url":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/blog\/author\/james-kraayeveld\/","identifier":29,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f327c36375f93cacc1f5818cbd6ca5f9c1c362ddf86682a8d1f0adac2b1f6198?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f327c36375f93cacc1f5818cbd6ca5f9c1c362ddf86682a8d1f0adac2b1f6198?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Kraayeveld Family Law","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Kraayeveld-Logo.svg","url":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Kraayeveld-Logo.svg","width":0,"height":0}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta-image-attorneys.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta-image-attorneys.jpg","width":454,"height":599},"url":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/blog\/how-does-mental-healthy-affect-divorce-or-child-custody-proceedings\/","about":["Custody"],"wordCount":517,"articleBody":"When a spouse or co-parent struggles with mental illness, it often affects relationships. Sometimes mental health problems affect the relationship so much that it contributes to the collapse of the relationship.\u00a0When clients visit us, they often ask us how their mental illness or their spouse or co-parent\u2019s behaviors will affect the divorce or child custody.The goal of a divorce proceeding is to divide the parties\u2019 assets and debts and to award spousal support, if applicable.\u00a0When doing so, spouses must reach an agreement, or the judge will decide the disputes. When we meet with a spouse who wants to file for divorce, we spend time discussing the breakup of the marriage, including our client\u2019s or the other spouse\u2019s mental health struggles.How Does Mental Health Affect the Property Division or the Award of Spousal Support?When the court\u00a0divides the marital property and debts\u00a0or\u00a0awards spousal support, the judge is required to review several factors. One of the factors, is a spouse\u2019s conduct during the marriage.\u00a0A big question our attorneys discuss with their clients is whether a client\u2019s or the client\u2019s spouse\u2019s mental illness affected their actions.\u00a0If a spouse is diagnosed with mental illness but can control his or her illness with medication, counseling, or other actions, then the illness will not affect the property division or a spousal support request.When a spouse\u2019s mental health ends up affecting his or her actions, then it is important to consider that it\u2019s one of many factors that the judge will consider.How Does Mental Health Affect a Child Custody Award?When a judge determines which parent is awarded custody of the children, the judge must review each party\u2019s mental and physical health.\u00a0 Caselaw provides that the judge must review how the parent\u2019s lack of mental health affects the children. For example, sometimes a depressed parent is unable to get out of bed to care for the children to get them to school on time, or a parent\u2019s mental illness struggle may cause them to have angry outbursts.Many clients visit us having a strong suspicion that the other parent struggles with mental illness, but our client is not aware of a diagnosis.\u00a0When this happens, our attorneys can assist with providing the evidence to the judge.\u00a0For example, our attorneys may use a custody evaluator and\/or a forensic mental health expert to provide expert evidence and testimony.When your spouse or other parent accuses you of mental health problems during the\u00a0divorce, it is best to call our attorneys to build a defense as quickly as possible. We can limit or eliminate the damage when our attorneys have sufficient time to build a defense. Likewise, when you believe that your spouse\u2019s mental illness caused the breakup of the marriage, or the other parent\u2019s poor mental health is negatively affecting the children, our attorney can assist with presenting the evidence to the judge in child custody proceedings.\u00a0Give us a call at\u00a0616-285-0808\u00a0to discuss your best options."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Does Mental Health Affect Divorce or Child Custody Proceedings","item":"https:\/\/www.kraayeveld.com\/blog\/how-does-mental-healthy-affect-divorce-or-child-custody-proceedings\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]