Drug and Alcohol Issues in a child custody case or divorce

Posted by WaltersGilbreath on July 28th, 2014

One of the most difficult situations a parent may face in a child custody case or divorce is addressing the issue of a parents’ drug or alcohol abuse.

For the parent dealing with the child’s other parent and alcohol and drug abuse issues, a separation of the parties may lead to a great deal of concern for the child’s safety when in the other parent’s care.  If a parent has been accused of abusing drugs or alcohol, he or she may be facing loss of custody, restricted or no visitation rights, and onerous drug and alcohol testing.

The first step in approaching a drug or alcohol case is proving or disproving that a parent has an addiction problem.  There are a wide variety of methods of accomplishing this, and there are even more ways to do a poor job in proving this.  Of course, it is best to have a drug or alcohol test which either shows or disproves substance abuse.  However, even drug and alcohol testing can be difficult to understand, and it takes an experienced attorney to be able to interpret the results and present the conclusions of the results to a judge or jury.  For example, if testing for an illegal drug, it is important that a judge not just order urine tests, but additionally order hair and nail tests.  Hair and nail drug tests will, according to the experts, test a six month history for drug usage while urine tests only test a short period of time and rarely detect alcohol or drug usage.

With regards to alcohol testing, there is very little reliable testing with regards to testing for prior usage.  However, significant advances have been made to test for the presence of alcohol in a parent’s system at the time of the test.  For example, many judges are ordering portable breathalyzers to be used by a parent who has abused alcohol.  These breathalyzers can test at random or scheduled increments and can be carried by a parent at all times, much like a cell phone.

Once it has been proven that a parent has a drug or alcohol problem, it is next necessary to convince a judge what type of visits should be put into affect to protect the child or children.  If a judge believes a parent has a drug or alcohol problem, often times that judge will ordered supervised visits.  If a parent is supervised during his or her visits, this arrangement will most likely continue until that parent can prove continued sobriety.

If you have concerns about your child or children’s parent’s drug or alcohol abuse, it is extremely important to hire an attorney who has experience dealing with these issues.  Likewise, if you have been accused of having a drug or alcohol problem, it is important to hire an attorney who can defend your rights as there are a wide variety of legal consequences that can result from such an accusation.

The attorneys at Walters Gilbreath, PLLC have prosecuted and defended drug and alcohol abuse cases.  We have experience in proving and disproving a problem and setting up and presenting drug and alcohol monitoring solutions.  If drugs or alcohol are an issue in your divorce or custody case, call one of our experienced attorneys for a free consultation to discuss your rights. For more information, please visit http://www.waltersgilbreath.com/child-custody/

About The Company:

Walters Gilbreath is a law firm based in Austin, Texas.  The law firm specializes in family law, which covers Divorce, Child Custody, Property Division, Alimony, and more. Walters Gilbreath let you get on with your life in the best emotional, financial and legal shape possible. Walters Gilbreath represents clients and is always prepared to go to the lengths necessary to maximize a client’s chances of victory.

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