Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
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The next factor to discuss, of the Michigan Child Custody factors, is
g. The mental and physical health of the parties.
The obvious comparisons between the parties will be made, as to their physical health, usually usually resulting in a tie. ("Both of these parties are healthy.") But there are pitfalls here, and you need to be aware of them, and be prepared, in advance, for what may occur. It's not really enough to simply assert "I'm in good health", you may have to prove it. If you're going into a custody battle, your physical and mental health may become an issue, and it's very convenient if you have been to your family doctor sometime in the last year, and have a routine physical, and a clean bill of health. If you are a hypochondriac (you know, visiting doctor after doctor, and arguing with the medicos, insisting that something is wrong with you, and/or insisting that you receive a prescription for Valium, or whatever), you can expect that conduct to come back to haunt you, and you may lose this factor. The other parent doesn't have to prove that you're in bad health, the other parent just has to prove that he/she is in better health than you, and ZINGO!, you have just lost a factor, and maybe the whole case. You're out on disability, sir? GET YOUR ASS BACK TO WORK. You positively will not have the advantage, by claiming "Well, I'm home all day, I get disability pay, and therefore no day care, you know, and if the children were with their mother, why, she works eight to five, and the kids would have to spend two hours after school in latchkey, so the kids would be better off with me...."Guess where the kids are going to be? Very likely with mom. And in latchkey.
Go get a job. First shift. You can't be a carpenter anymore? Become an insurance salesman, you only have to lift a telephone during the day. You can no longer be a mechanic? Become a car salesman, you know cars backward and foreward, you'd be great at it.
And you Ma'am? In reviewing your questionaire that you filled out for us, I see that you're on medication. What is that for? What kind of stress? Well, I see that you don't work, but you used to work, as a teacher. How often do you see Dr. Couch? Every two weeks? Oh, you've always been "sensitive", even as a child? Been treating with the good doctor for five years? WELL, GROW UP. NOW. If you're not up to daily life, if you can't hold down a job, if you're not up to living without pills and a shrink, what makes you think you're up to raising your child? It would be "devastating" to you if the child ended up living with Dad? Well, the judge isn't actually looking at your best interest, the judge is looking at the child's best interest. Yes, there are certain specific things that make up "the best interest of the child", and one of those things is the mental and physical health of the parties, which is to say, "How does the mental and physical health of the parties affect the child?" The state of your health will be important, and we need to paint a picture of a parent in good health, because the other side is going to try to paint you as a person in bad health. Be in good health.
It's important, this physical aspect of health, because it's connected with, it's tied to, the mental aspect of health, which is the next chapter.
Good luck with it.