The Impact of Addiction on Divorce Settlements and Custody Arrangements
When your marriage involves addiction, whether you are the one suffering or whether a loved one is facing these difficulties, it can make divorce settlements and custody arrangements much more complex.
Even in an amicable divorce, addiction almost always leads to certain safe guard measures or specific rules for parenting time, more complex visitation agreements, and more need to address future scenarios and an alternate plan if the addicted parent doesn’t follow the safe guard rules. However, handling these issues with the detail necessary and the care and compassion may be crucial to you and your loved ones.
At Chambers Family Law, we strive to help addicts and their families mediate divorce and other family law cases with kindness and compassion for your needs.
If you are struggling to make the right choices for yourself and your family, especially as addiction impacts your divorce proceedings, you may need help pursuing the best plan for your family and taking action that works for all parties.
Fortunately, our team is here to provide the tools and resources you need for mediation or litigation, depending on the specifics of your case.
Difficulties You May Face When Changing Custody Arrangements
As you pursue a divorce settlement, you may find it difficult to get the results you want to see.
Your spouse may be dealing with the effects of addiction, which can impact their ability to take appropriate action, mediate with you on your divorce settlement, and take action on finalizing your custody agreement.
We are here to help you face all the difficulties and obstacles that impact your divorce case.
Acting in Your Child’s Best Interests
The number one primary focus in moving forward with divorce proceedings with children, is always considering what is in the children’s best interests. This is always what the court will focus on in either determining custody or in approving your agreed upon parenting plan. determining what is in the best interests of the children takes into consideration several circumstances, the following of which are just a few examples:
- The physical and mental health of each parent
- Substance abuse or addiction in either parent
- Age of the child
- The ability of either parent to ensure school attendance and other requirements
- The stated wishes of the child, if they are old enough
- Who has been the primary care giver
- Who is more available to meet the child’s daily needs and schedule
- Does one parent travel frequently
- Who has attended the majority of the child’s medical and educational appointments and events
- Is either parent attempting to alienate the child from the other parent
Clearly untreated addiction can impact the ability of either parent to act in their child’s best interests at all. Addiction can make it difficult to complete certain tasks, and it can lead to dangerous behavior, including driving while intoxicated with your child in the vehicle, for example.
By considering these concerns, you may have more difficulty making decisions for your custody arrangement, but it can also provide peace of mind that your child’s needs are being met.
Concerns of Child Abuse from an Addicted Spouse
In some cases, addiction can lead to behaviors that a person would not ordinarily have committed. For example, when intoxicated, your spouse may react with negativity or even violence towards certain triggers.
Unfortunately, this can lead to violent outbursts, and you or your children may face the consequences of these outbursts; including your child being afraid or confused.
In certain cases which meet the legal criteria, one parent may have already filed domestic violence reports, for example, which can greatly impact your custody agreement. In fact, in some cases, having filed reports can even lead to the other parent having very restricted or limited or even supervised visitation rights to help shield and separate your child from a dangerous situation.
If you are concerned about your spouse endangering your child’s safety, but you recognize that your child still needs to have even some protected and limited contact with the other parent, you may wish to build a very structured visitation agreement that helps you allow them to have some limited and safe contact to at least maintain some relationship with the other parent, with sufficient guardrails and protections to protect the children’s emotional and physical wellbeing and prevent them from being at risk of harm.
While it can require a lot more language and detail to your custody arrangement, including special rules or safe guard measures that must be maintained to allow the addicted parent to have visitation, the extra time and detail included in preparing your custody agreement is definitely worth the time and extra expense for your children’s future safety.
Reach out to us to learn more about how we can help you build an agreement that works for all members of your family.
Building a Parenting Plan with an Addict
Addiction can lead to significant difficulties when building a parenting plan. In order to meet the court’s approval, your parenting plan must include when and how much time each parent will spend with the children.
Such a plan lays out clear instructions on how much time and on what days each parent will spend time with the children, but untreated addiction can make it much more difficult when building and maintaining this plan.
Untreated addiction can lead to losing time or being unable to meet certain deadlines or restrictions that can impact the building of your parenting plan.
For example, you may be waiting on specific information or paperwork from your spouse, only for them to regularly forget this paperwork or fail to arrive on time to meetings or fail to pick up the children at school or their activities. Based upon our experience, we can make drafting a parenting plan to include all necessary language to this complication easier.
Steps You Can Take to Reduce the Impact of Divorce from an Untreated Addict
No matter how well you have prepared for a divorce, and no matter how certain you are of the settlement you are pursuing or the custody arrangements you are seeking, it can still have a huge impact on you and your family’s future.
Fortunately, taking the right steps to address foreseeable issues and concerns now can reduce the impact of your divorce on your life in the future, which can help make the process of divorcing an untreated addict easier. We provide a few detailed options for those feeling the impact of addiction on their divorce who need guidance to reduce this impact.
Mediation for Amicable Divorces
When trying to divorce amicably from a spouse who is an untreated addict, you may have different needs than other couples seeking mediation trying to divorce amicably.
For example, you may want a divorce but still want for your spouse to seek recovery so that your children can have two healthy parents in their lives or so that your spouse can contribute to the financial needs of your children. That may include providing more resources for rehabilitation or other recovery options, but under strict guidelines to be used only for sincere recovery or rehabilitation efforts.
In these cases, we can represent you in mediation and help you negotiate the right resolution for you, your children, and to promote your spouse’s recovery.
Our help in representing you in mediation to resolve you case can avoid extensive arguments in the courtroom, save you significant legal expense, and help to prevent the often times irreparable wedge that can be driven between you and your spouse through a trial so that you can try instead to work together and cooperate in raising your children.
Compassion and Support on Your Side
When facing a divorce or custody issue that involves addiction, you may find that you are dealing with a polarizing topic that many people do not understand. That can leave you feeling isolated and without a support network, either as an addicted spouse or when married to an addicted spouse.
By seeking a compassionate legal representative who can direct you how to build a support network, you can reduce much of the stress that comes with these types of divorce proceedings.
Knowing that you are not alone can be helpful for many people facing a divorce. This is especially important when adjusting or building custody arrangements, considering that your child’s well-being is a major factor in your life.
Having emotional and legal support that can provide the caring kindness you need during this difficult time can help you more easily pursue the best answers for you and your family.
How We Can Help You Navigate Your Divorce from an Addict
If you are pursuing a divorce from someone facing substance abuse, you may need special tools and resources that many attorneys are not aware of and cannot provide. Divorcing an untreated addict comes with a special knowledge and understanding to deal with all of the circumstances and concerns you may need to be aware of, which we can help you understand.
We provide all the following benefits, among others, as you seek answers for your divorce settlement or custody arrangement:
- Dedication and compassion for those facing addiction or living with an addicted loved one
- Decades of experience
- Advocacy for your rights and your family’s best interests
- Specific sensitivity to delicate family law situations
Negotiating a family law case, especially divorce proceedings, without legal representation can make it much harder for you to get the answers and resources you need following your divorce. Fortunately, we have the resources needed to represent you in the courtroom or through mediation, and provide the tools and services you need at this time.
We offer specific support to those impacted by addiction with our decades of professional and personal experience with addiction and in handling cases involving addiction.
Reach Out for Compassionate Divorce Representation in Atlanta
As you pursue a divorce settlement or a change in your custody arrangements, you may find that these situations are more difficult when one party is addicted to alcohol or illegal substances.
These difficulties can hurt not just you but your children and any other family members who are affected by the situation. Unfortunately, that means that people other than you and your spouse may be impacted by untreated addiction and the ways that it impacts your divorce settlement and custody agreement.
At Chambers Family Law, we strive to provide the compassion, dedication, and attention that each of our clients’ needs as they pursue the best possible outcomes for their divorce proceedings.
Whether you are on amicable grounds with your spouse, which can mean divorce proceedings through mediation, or whether you will need to go to trial, we have the tools, resources, knowledge, and personal and professional experience you will need to help you settle your case fairly or achieve a good outcome in court.
To learn more about our services, you can always reach out for a consultation by calling 404-795-5092 or completing our online contact form.