All sorts of things can impact what kinds of issues come up in a divorce. This includes the specific circumstances of the divorcing individuals. One type of circumstance that can raise a variety of special issues in a divorce is if one of the divorcing parties suffers from an addiction, such as alcoholism or a drug addiction.
Unfortunately, addiction is something many individuals here in the U.S. suffer from. Some conservative estimates put the number of individuals in the country who have a cocaine addiction at one to two million and the number of individuals in the country who have alcoholism at 12 to 13 million.
When divorcing a spouse who suffers from addiction, there are many big concerns a person may have. One is protecting their children. They may be worried about how the spouse’s addiction may affect their conduct around the kids in the future. An addiction can sometimes result in a person acting irresponsibly when it comes to their behavior towards their family members, such as their children.
Thus, one of the big classes of special issues that can arise in connection to a divorce in which one of the spouses has an addiction are special child custody issues. One thing such issues often center on is whether restrictions should be put the custody/visitation rights of the parent suffering from the addiction. There are a variety of different such restrictions that a court could potentially put in place in connection to an addiction for the protection of a child’s best interests.
Family law attorneys can provide individuals who are divorcing a spouse with an addiction with advice and guidance on how to address the special divorce issues that can arise in connection to addiction, such as issues regarding protecting the kids.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Dealing With Divorce and Addiction,” Nov. 11, 2015