Can I get full child custody if my wife is pregnant and using pot? 21 Answers as of June 24, 2011

Under your facts, it is highly probable. Further, you need to ask for an emergency order requiring her to be tested, regularly and randomly, such that, if she screens dirty, she gets locked up or otherwise prevented access to harmful substances pending delivery. Stay well.

You can divorce your wife. Whether or not you get full custody would be up to the determination of the Judicial Officer hearing the case, based on all the facts presented. You would best be represented by an experienced Family Law Attorney.

The Court will implement a parenting plan in the best interests of the child. Her drug use will definitely impact the Court's decision against her.

Yes, especially if the child is born with THC in its blood or especially if the Oxicodone is in the baby's blood when it's born. That would mean she addicted the child before its birth and that is abuse per se. Hire a lawyer ahead of time to make sure. Good luck.

It would be likely that you could get custody if you can establish that your wife is using drugs while pregnant. A court may order that she attend some sort of alcohol or drug rehabilitation and they may establish a random testing protocol. In the meantime, you should probably seek a medical intervention in the meantime to prevent her from doing drugs while she is pregnant.

Here is a link you may find useful: http://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/Notebooks/Pathfinders/ChildCustody/childcustody .htm

The situation you describe, with your wife expecting a child and using controlled substances, is a concerning one. This circumstance arises on a regular basis, unfortunately. In Minnesota, there are a number of possible remedies, one of which involves filing for divorce and seeking sole physical and legal custody of your unborn child. The concern is what action you can take now which will protect the child from the special needs, developmental delays and disabilities caused by the mother ingesting these substances during pregnancy. It is vital that you immediately seek legal counsel from an experienced family law attorney who can represent and advise you on a course of action. Yes, obtaining full custody is possible, depending on your history and situation.

Until the child is born, the family court has no authority to designate either prospective parent the sole custodial parent or otherwise.It lacks jurisdiction because there is as yet, no child. About all you can do is turn her into the police, explaining your concerns, and hope they will arrest her, and that the District Attorney will prosecute her so that a judge can then make orders which will preclude her from using any drugs, including the prescribed oxycontin, until the baby is born. Then the DCFS or other child protective agency can get involved and remove the child from her, and hopefully give the baby to you as sole custodian via the juvenile dependency court, but that system is just awful and unpredictable. They might find an excuse to keep the child from you and fabricate one if they cannot find one. Yes, they do that. Babies are easy to place and they mean lots of federal and state money for the agency and foster parents, and others. Your best bet is to avoid reporting her to DCFS, CPS or whatever it is called in your County. Instead, do the thing I suggested with the police, and immediately after the child is born, file an order to show cause and an ex parte(short notice [24 hours advance notice by phone will do]) request for emergency removal of the baby from mom and with sole physical and legal custody to you due to the danger mom poses to baby by her drug use. You should go ahead now and file your petition for dissolution and include a declaration in there explaining to the court what mom is doing, that it is the reason you are divorcing her, and ask the court for orders restricting mother's conduct. The court will have jurisdiction over mom once she answers your petition, and perhaps it will make orders that she cease and decist drug use, maybe order her into a residential drug program which would keep her away from the ability to use, and then if she violated those orders, the court could confine her at home or in jail for contempt.Just keep fighting until the baby is born, and especially after. You will get the child.

The child's best interest is the deciding factor . Many factors are considered in deciding best interests, but the basic premise is that it is not a one parent or the other argument. Both parents need to be involved in parenting and the only real question in almost every case is HOW that responsibility and privilege is to be shared - not IF it will be shared. Your statement of the facts suggests that until your wife solves her drug problem her role in parenting should be limited and subject to some strict rules and supervision. But whether what a court chooses to do is the same thing you perceive as "full custody" depends on the actual facts and the law in the state where those decisions are made.

You can divorce, yes. You have to wait until the child is born for the court to make custody orders but I would believe this would be in your favor for custody.