SPARC Forums

Soc,

    Just found out that my stepsons mother is under the care of a psychyatrist at the county mental health office, however dh just went to mediation last week (found out right after) but no agreement was reached.
 CA is state

question:

1.) if parents go to hearing can father request/supeona psych records?

2.) Does this have a large impact on custody case?  

>Soc,
>
>    Just found out that my stepsons mother is under the care
>of a psychyatrist at the county mental health office, however
>dh just went to mediation last week (found out right after)
>but no agreement was reached.
> CA is state
>
>question:
>
>1.) if parents go to hearing can father request/supeona psych
>records?

Client-therapist communications are privileged, and not subject to discovery, unless the therapist believes that the client may cause serious bodily injury to a third party. Thus, you cannot obtain the county psychiatrist's records without the other party's consent. What you can get is a copy of the therapist's/clinic's appointment book and/or billing records, to prove that the other parent has been seeking therapy, and from there you could get an order permitting you to have the parent examined by your own expert witness therpist (or a neutral custody evaluator) for the purpose of trying to determine any problems releated to the child's care.

Obviously, this is a potentially expensive process.

But, you could just allege that the other parent has disclosed to you that she has been seeking mental health care, and use that as a justification for getting her evaluated by another therapist for the purposes of litigation related to the child's best interests.

>2.) Does this have a large impact on custody case?  

If the mom has a serious mental disorder which could affect her ability to parent, then yes.

>If the mom has a serious mental disorder which could affect her ability to parent, then yes.

Would bipolar disorder be consdered a serious mental disorder that coud affect ability to parent?i

>
>>If the mom has a serious mental disorder which could affect
>her ability to parent, then yes.
>
>Would bipolar disorder be consdered a serious mental disorder
>that coud affect ability to parent?

Yes.