Things haven’t been good for you and your spouse for a while now. It seems all you do is fight with one another, so you made the decision to divorce. You initially believed you would share joint custody, split your assets and divide the debts and it would be done.
But now your soon-to-be ex-spouse appears to have different ideas. They say they are no longer comfortable with joint custody, naming your substance abuse issues as a reason why it won’t be safe to allow you 50-50 access to the kids.
Do you have something to worry about?
It’s time now to be brutally honest with yourself. What are we dealing with here? Too many beers at an after-work happy hour? A night you got sloppy drinking wine with friends? Excessive alcohol use can absolutely make you unfit to supervise your children safely.
Do you have a drug problem?
If you are using any street drugs, that alone is a red flag to the family law courts. But, maybe you are prescribed opiates for chronic pain. The mere fact that you take opioid-based drugs for legitimate conditions or injuries should not negate your ability to take care and assume custody of your minor children.
What if their points are valid?
If you realize there is truth to their allegations and you want to share joint custody, now would be a really good time to enter rehab and clean up. Your kids are worth the effort.
Your potential co-parent might be trying to get a rise out of you or is perhaps manipulating the system to make sure that they get more in child support by alleging that you’re an unfit parent due to substance abuse. In that case, you will need to immediately strategize with your own attorney so you can protect your parenting rights.
