I think as a starting point, it’s a couple of areas of law to be aware of. Psych records, drug, and alcohol abuse records are potentially discoverable under the evidence code. However, it has to be something that’s either relevant or tends to lead to relevant evidence. I would suggest to you guys if you know you need help, get help and get help early before it becomes a crisis.

Because ideally, the way to avoid a problem is not to have a crisis. If you know you’re struggling with depression or you know you’re drinking too much or you know you have any kind of a problem like that, get help early. Because I think the easiest way to avoid that being used against you in court is to take care of it early.

If you haven’t, then I think your best bet is to get with a good lawyer. Have them do everything they can to try to keep whatever it is, whatever treatment you’re doing under wraps, be discreet. In other words, be careful to who you divulge information. I mean, here’s the thing, she won’t know to ask the question if she doesn’t know there’s a problem. If she doesn’t ask the question, you’re not obliged to share.

And any specialist you’re seeing as far as a counselor, doctor, or treatment specialist is not obliged… Not only are they not obliged, but they’re also not allowed to share information absent a court order. So one way to keep that off the court record is to be discreet. It is a touchy subject. I will say in the balance if you know have a problem, you’re better off taking care of it than not and letting it turn into a crisis. It does sometimes create a conundrum from the standpoint of not generating potential records that could be used in evidence against you, but it’s still better than having something go boom in your life.

If you are dealing with a situation like that, it is a sensitive situation, and you need good legal advice from a Oklahoma family law attorney, go to Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable.