• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Psychological Evaluation?

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

blitzen

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Florida

I have a 21-month old daughter with someone I was never married to. We lived together while I was pregnant and he is on the birth certificate. He has been semi-involved in her life, but mostly it depends on his moods. By this I mean that he has huge mood swings. He has cut himself, all up and down his arms. He has been fired from 7 jobs in two years. He lies to me for no reason. It seems to be a compulsion. On two seperate occasions, during visits with our daughter at his father's house, he has told me upon pick-up that he let her eat dirt and chew on his toothbrush. I'm pretty sure that he wanted to see what I would do. When I brought up my concerns with his mother, she told me that he was diagnosed schozophrenic a couple of years ago, but has refused treatment because the medication didn't mix well with the Oxy-Contin he likes to snort and it gave him a seizure. I have had no intention of cutting him out of our daughter's life, but he seems to be obsessed with this idea, even though he has been seeing her at least one time a week. I do not feel comfortable, however, after all of this, with unsupervised visits. I haven't had to address this, because he has seen her at his mother's house, so his mother is there.

Would any of this even matter to the courts? I would like to be able to get a lawyer and have him psychologically tested, since he refuses to do so on his own. I am also concerned about the drug use. If he was on medication, it would surely improve our daughter's life. Is any of this possible? Criticism, advice, and opinions are all requested and welcome.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Florida

I have a 21-month old daughter with someone I was never married to. We lived together while I was pregnant and he is on the birth certificate. He has been semi-involved in her life, but mostly it depends on his moods. By this I mean that he has huge mood swings. He has cut himself, all up and down his arms. He has been fired from 7 jobs in two years. He lies to me for no reason. It seems to be a compulsion. On two seperate occasions, during visits with our daughter at his father's house, he has told me upon pick-up that he let her eat dirt and chew on his toothbrush. I'm pretty sure that he wanted to see what I would do. When I brought up my concerns with his mother, she told me that he was diagnosed schozophrenic a couple of years ago, but has refused treatment because the medication didn't mix well with the Oxy-Contin he likes to snort and it gave him a seizure. I have had no intention of cutting him out of our daughter's life, but he seems to be obsessed with this idea, even though he has been seeing her at least one time a week. I do not feel comfortable, however, after all of this, with unsupervised visits. I haven't had to address this, because he has seen her at his mother's house, so his mother is there.

Would any of this even matter to the courts? I would like to be able to get a lawyer and have him psychologically tested, since he refuses to do so on his own. I am also concerned about the drug use. If he was on medication, it would surely improve our daughter's life. Is any of this possible? Criticism, advice, and opinions are all requested and welcome.
You could certainly ask for a psychological evaluation as part of the court process to establish custody/visitation. Its not guaranteed that a judge would order one, however since he has been diagnosed and is not on meds, you have a better chance of getting one ordered than most.

There is also a decent chance that you can get it ordered that his parents must be the supervisors for his visitation.
 

profmum

Senior Member
You could certainly ask for a psychological evaluation as part of the court process to establish custody/visitation. Its not guaranteed that a judge would order one, however since he has been diagnosed and is not on meds, you have a better chance of getting one ordered than most.

There is also a decent chance that you can get it ordered that his parents must be the supervisors for his visitation.
I agree and I would do it sooner than later, does his mother have to present at the visits, or does she just happen to be there at her house?
 

GrowUp!

Senior Member
You could certainly ask for a psychological evaluation as part of the court process to establish custody/visitation. Its not guaranteed that a judge would order one, however since he has been diagnosed and is not on meds, you have a better chance of getting one ordered than most.

There is also a decent chance that you can get it ordered that his parents must be the supervisors for his visitation.
And she should request a hearing on the matter because I highly doubt a court will rule on this based on a simple motion. Also, if the OP was diagnosed a couple of years ago, the OP will also be fighting against the fact that she had a child with him, even though he was acting like this.
Even more reason why I would ask for a hearing when filing a motion.
 

blitzen

Junior Member
Exactly, I shouldn't have had a child with him. However, he wasn't acting quite so erratic before I had the baby. It was almost like the stress of her birth made it worse.

Thank you for the advice so far!
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
And be prepared that courts like to order psychological evaluations for both parties when they are ordered for one. And if you request it, you may very well be ordered to pay for them both and they can be quite pricy.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
And be prepared that courts like to order psychological evaluations for both parties when they are ordered for one. And if you request it, you may very well be ordered to pay for them both and they can be quite pricy.
Why would you try to discourage a parent for petitioning for a psych eval in a situation that clearly warrants one?
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Why would you try to discourage a parent for petitioning for a psych eval in a situation that clearly warrants one?
I am NOT trying to discourage it. I am just stating that she needs to be prepared for this possibility. Many people do not realize that the courts ordinarily order a psych eval for both parties if requested for one, the psych evals can be expensive and the petitioning party may be required to pay for both.
 

GrowUp!

Senior Member
Why would you try to discourage a parent for petitioning for a psych eval in a situation that clearly warrants one?
Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Are you that oblivious to this procedure knowing that parents love to file for this crap and the courts many times order both parents when there is no proof? You should know damn well that if it "clearly warrants one", then the parent will have to prove it to the court. And it most likely ain't gonna happen with a simple filing of a motion and a Judge/Magistrate only going by that. :rolleyes:
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top