Allegations of child abuse are not uncommon in custody disputes. Oftentimes there is legitimate reason to believe that abuse has occurred. But there are situations in which one parent may fabricate or exaggerate abuse allegations in an attempt to gain an advantage over the other parent.

There may also be times where a judge finds the parent has made a false accusation due to some underlying mental health problem. In such cases, the court may actually order the parent to undergo a mental health evaluation as part of the process of resolving a child custody dispute.

Court of Special Appeals Rejects “Medical Privacy” Argument

A recent unreported case from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Gamez v. Lopez, provides a helpful illustration of such a scenario. This case involved a now-divorced couple who married in 2014 and had one child. The parents separated in 2017.

During the subsequent divorce proceedings, each parent accused the other of committing acts of domestic violence. Indeed, the Court of Special Appeals noted in its opinion that “both parties exaggerate[d] or misrepresent[ed]” the nature of these disputes. To make a long story short, Maryland Child Protective Services reviewed the matter and determined that neither parent had “neglected or physically abused” the child.

Nevertheless, the mother refused to drop off the child for scheduled visitation with the father, alleging a member of the father’s family had sexually abused the child. In response to this, the father asked the court to award him sole custody of the child and order the mother “to submit to a mental health evaluation.”

The judge ultimately did not alter the existing custody arrangements but did order the mental health evaluation. On appeal, the mother argued the latter action violated her rights under HIPAA and Maryland law protecting the confidentiality of medical records.

The Court of Special Appeals disagreed. It explained that medical confidentiality laws like HIPAA are inapplicable to this situation. Those laws govern the disclosure of private medical records “by healthcare providers.” It does not apply to the courts.

More to the point, Maryland court rules are clear that a judge may order a mental health evaluation whenever the mental “condition or characteristic of a person in the custody or under the legal control of a party is in controversy.” Here, the mother’s “mental health and her ability to appropriately care for” the child was “in controversy.” As such, the trial court had the right to order the mental health evaluation in order to help decide what would be in the best interests of the child.

Separately, the Court of Special Appeals also rejected the mother’s appeal of the trial judge’s decision to deny her a protective order based on her allegations that the father abused the child.

Contact St. Mary’s County Family Law Attorney Robert Castro Today

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions contact our office to speak to an experienced lawyer at (301) 870-1200.

Source:

https://www.courts.state.md.us/sites/default/files/unreported-opinions/0110s21_0.pdf