Child custody cases are emotionally charged situations, but when concerns about a parent’s mental health enter the equation, the stakes become even higher. If you’re in a custody battle and believe the other parent may be struggling with mental health issues, you need to understand how this can affect the outcome—and how to raise these concerns in a way the court will consider seriously and fairly.

Below, family law attorney Sina Mohajer walks you through how mental health factors into custody decisions in California, what the court looks for, and how to present evidence without jeopardizing your own position.

At Mohajer Law Firm, we help clients navigate these sensitive and complex situations with clarity and care. Whether you’re seeking to protect your child or defending your parental rights while managing your mental health, this guide will help you understand your options and the legal standards the court will apply.

Need help with a custody case involving mental health? Mohajer Law Firm specializes in family law and can guide you through the process to protect your child’s best interests. Contact us for a one-on-one consultation to discuss your case.

Transcript:

When you’re dealing with a custody battle, you’re already facing a set of unique challenges. But what happens if now you’re concerned about the mental health of the other parent? That brings a whole new set of challenges that you have to understand to be able to overcome that when you’re in court. So in this video, we’re going to discuss how mental health impacts child custody decisions in the state of California.

For those who don’t know me, I’m Sina Mohajer with Mohajer Law Firm. We specialize in family law, personal injury, estate planning, and criminal defense. In these videos, I like to tackle complex legal issues and try to simplify it for our viewers in order to give you the knowledge and know-how in how to navigate throughout this whole process. 

So if you like the content of this video, please hit that like button. Also, don’t forget to subscribe. So you’re always informed of any new videos being posted. Without further ado, I welcome you all to our new mini series called A Walk in the Park.

Mental Health and Child Custody Cases

So mental health is a huge concern for courts, even though they’re not always addressed every time you go to court. Because at the end of the day, you have to realize the utmost importance and the primary focus of every court, family court, is what is in the best interests of the children. And that ensures the protection of their safety, mental and emotional well-being. So if a parent is found to be mentally or emotionally unfit, then that brings great concern to the court to ensure that the safety of the children are being met or not.

How to Address the Other Parent’s Mental Health Issues

But how do you address this? How does a parent bring forward to the court this concern without possibly making it a lot worse for themselves? 

Provide Evidence

What courts can look at is evidence. You always have to have some form of evidence. That can start off with your own personal observations of the other parents behavior, whether they’ve been acting strangely recently, perhaps they have a substance abuse issue, or depression. This can be presented to the court to draw that concern or raise that flag for the court to inquire a little bit further.

Additionally, the court may even look at their medical history, whether it’s medical records or notes from a therapist or anything of that nature. The court has that ability to look at that as well.

Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation

But these are just stepping stones to get the court to essentially order what’s called a psychological evaluation. Without a psychological evaluation, the court doesn’t have any evidence to determine that that parent is mentally unfit to have custody of the kids. Once that medical evaluation is conducted, or that psychological evaluation is conducted, at that point, the court can make orders to ensure the safety and well-being of your children. And this can be in different formats. 

How to Counter Mental Health Issues in Your Child Custody Case

Now, it’s not necessarily a negative thing that you have a mental concern or a mental health issue, because as long as you’re showing that you’re receiving treatment and you’re providing that stability to the kids, then the court’s not going to strip away your custodial rights.

However, if you’re not seeking treatment and you’re not getting better and you’re not addressing it, then yes, the court’s going to limit your time with the children. And that can include, for example, supervised visits, whether it’s professionally monitored or a nonprofessional monitor. And it’s just to ensure that the safety and well-being of the kids are being met. 

Attorney for Mental Health Evaluation and Child Custody Case

If you’re facing a custody issue where mental health is a concern of yours, I welcome you to contact our office. I’m happy to sit down with you one on one to discuss your case in more detail.

And if you like the contents of this video, don’t forget to hit that like button. Also, don’t forget to subscribe. So you’re always informed of any new videos being posted.