custody concerns

[laila128]

Almost six months ago I found out my husband was abusing drugs. His drug of choice is synthetic marijuana which as far as I know is legal and undetected in drug tests. Once I found out about this I demanded that he quick and seek help. The situation after that only escalated and he ended up being baker acted by the sheriffs office for claiming he was going to commit suicide. Since then he has gone to a counselor and seen a psychiatrist upon my demands of him. However the situation has not improved, he still does drugs, (steals from me to buy them), has been unemployed for almost six months, has hardly ever cared for out 18 month old daughter. In fact he robbed her piggy bank three times to buy his drugs. He has also had violent outbursts in which he has damaged our home. I have hesitated filing for divorce because I am afraid he will end up with shared custody of our daughter. To make things worse, he will end up with his parents which are both alcoholics and the father has been accused of molesting another grandchild but charges were apparently dropped after he passed a lie detector test. I have recently been documenting his behavior, have three of my checks (he is not on my bank account) that he has forged and cashed, and I have the testimony of two of his friends that can attest to his behavior. Are my chances really good of getting sole custody? I cannot prove his drug abuse because he does something that cant be detected, but his friends will attest to it. Additionally, he was fired for two jobs because of drug abuse and he has been diagnosed as bipolar. I want to divorce him, but will not risk my daughters safety until I know I have an excellent chance of getting sole custody. What are my chances? What will he have to do to prove he is fit if anything? Will my documentation mean anything in court? Please help I want out of this terrible marriage but cannot chance her safety or well-being.

[Attorney Cheri Hobbs]

It is difficult to obtain sole parental responsibility in Florida (we no longer use terms like custody since 2008). But you can definitely make a strong argument for sole parental responsibility with supervised time sharing or specific restrictions on the time sharing Father has. It would be wise to speak in person with a lawyer about what evidence you will need to provide to the court.