Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

medical

Going through a divorce and my child has been diagnosed with ADD. His mother refuses to put him on medication. Can I, his father, give him those meds?


Asked on 2/01/09, 11:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

George Chandler Chandler Law of Los Alamos

Re: medical

You don't say what stage of the divorce you're at. If you have joint custody (the usual arrangement) you're supposed to reach agreement on general medical treatment, and for emergencies whoever has physical custody at the time a problem arises is expected to deal with it and inform the other. Responsibility for medical decisions should be laid out in your parenting plan. This is the kind of problem you should agree on in most plans. If you feel strongly enough about it and you can't agree with your wife then you could ask the court to order your wife to allow the treatment - that would probably require testimony from an MD about the necessity of treatment. There is a lot of controversy about ADD so you may have to make a strong case. If you are at the stage of negotiating the parenting plan then you could work this into the mediation you are doing in that process.

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Answered on 2/02/09, 3:51 pm


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