Ask a lawyer on the topic of Family law

Manic-depressive

November 30, 2009 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Andreas Scholz

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to know if a woman who is manic-depressive is allowed to have a child unsupervised. My partner's son is 3 3/4 years old, and the child's mother is manic-depressive. The child lives with us. She now wants unsupervised visitation with her child, or even full custody. However, the child always comes home with bruises, very sore, and always says that his mom hits him and throws him on the bed. When his mother picks him up on Fridays, he always starts crying, screaming, and throwing himself on the floor because he doesn't want to go there.

The judge is biased and on the mother's side. When it was mentioned in court that the child says he is being hit, the judge's response was: "When you don't know what else to do, you claim the child is being hit." The psychologist of the child's mother once wrote that she will never be able to take care of the child.

Unfortunately, the judge only cares about the mother's side. All of our objections are dismissed as lies and my partner is portrayed as a bad father.

Thank you,
Tina G.

Andreas Scholz

Dear inquirer,

The visitation rights can be regulated by the court. If there is currently no court-ordered visitation arrangement in place, one can be requested, with the court then able to order supervised visitation.

Reasons that necessitate supervised visitation must be presented by you and, if necessary, proven. A manic depression can certainly be reason enough to only allow supervised visitation. If it is determined by an expert that a depression is of a quality that would likely pose a risk to the child's well-being during unsupervised visitation, the court will have to order supervised visitation. If it does not, you can appeal the decision with legal means.

I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Best regards,

Andreas Scholz, Attorney