Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
Child Custody
I'm a schoolteacher and a mother of 2 children ages 5 and 8. In the past I had a eating disorder, and I suffered from depression for a period of time that caused me to attempt suicide. My kids were never in danger. Will this keep me from having full custody of my kids if a divorce was to take place? How will the courts look at this? and will the view me as an unfit mother?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Child Custody
In determining the custodial best interests of your children, the court will certainly take into consideration your past medical history. More
important to these deliberations than this past history, however, will be what's happening at the
time the court is considering the matter and the events immediatedly preceding this.
If there are no untoward events on your part in
your current or immediate past life at the time the court takes up the case, your lawyer should be able to advance credible arguments before the court on your behalf that it's in the children's best interest that you as the mother have full legal as well as physical custody.
Also, of great importance in any custody suit, obviously, will be the parental qualifications (or disqualifications)and conditions of the other parent and whether these are likely to promote or detract from serving the best interests of the children.