The Impact of Drinking

So what about drinking? How does that impact custody? My name is Brian L. Jackson. I’m a Tulsa father’s rights attorney here with Dads.Law where fathers are not disposable. And we’re going to talk about drinking and child custody and visitation.

Now I’m going to start by saying the mere fact that you may have a drink here and there is not going to be necessarily a huge problem for you. Okay, you like to have a beer while you watch football on Sunday. Courts probably not going to make an issue out of it. Alcohol use typically is going to be divided along the lines of are you responsible or are you not responsible and do you or do you not have a problem with your drinking?

If you are a moderate drinker, and you’re generally speaking not doing it in the presence of your kids or at least you’re not drunk in the presence of your kids, you’re not driving around under the influence, you know, you’re not like either binge drinking or else you’re not, you know, otherwise drinking heavily on a consistent basis, it’s probably not going to be a huge issue.

Considerations for Drinking and Child Custody

There are some obvious caveats and if you are somebody with a history of substance abuse, the court is going to look more closely at your drinking habits, even if your history did not include the abuse of alcohol. If you have a history of like criminal charges associated with your drinking like a DUI or a public drunk, the court will look more closely at your drinking habits. Also, if you are going out drinking and not instead of spending time with your kids, that can be an issue even if you’re not getting hammered because it shows where your priorities are and yes, a good lawyer will make an issue out of that and the judge will pay attention.

As far as drinking in the presence of your kids, it’s my opinion that to some extent that depends on your judge. I don’t necessarily think it’s an automatic bad thing, but it can be made an issue of, particularly if you’re talking about kids that are old enough to be tempted to drink themselves. So like teenagers, I mean obviously it goes without saying you do not want to be serving your minor child alcohol. That’s a crime and it will definitely bite you in the ass in family court.

Setting a Proper Example

But even if you’re not doing that, there is something to be said for setting a proper example. And if you’re gonna tell them they can’t drink, it may be in your best interest at least through the eyes of the court not to be one of those do as I say and not as I do type of parents if you understand what I’m saying. Now I understand is that there is a difference between an illegal adult drinking and a minor drinking. Particularly if the legal adult is responsible about their drinking, which is why I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s an automatic bad thing to be doing. I think this is where you really need to know something about your judge. Obviously, it’s going to depend on your judge. It’s going to depend on your personal history. And this is where you want to consult with a lawyer.

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As a last point though, you probably don’t want to be drinking in the presence of the kids while you’re in the middle of custody litigation because it will definitely be scrutinized. And if the judge is in a stuck in a situation where they kind of have to toss a coin because both parents are more or less equally qualified, it’s little crap like that that could end up biting you in the ass. So maybe if you know you’re in the middle of active litigation, it’s probably about having a drink without getting drunk and that’s that’s a potential for your best bet is if you’re in the middle of a custody case, don’t drink in the presence of your children. Don’t let them see you drinking. In any event, if you’re dealing with that, you definitely want to consult with a good lawyer. One place you can find a good Oklahoma child custody lawyer is at Dads.Law where fathers are not disposable.