Table of Contents
Introduction
Questions of Mental illness and custody occur frequently. Mental illness can play a significant role in child custody cases. The recent divorce filing between Weezer bassist Scott Shriner and his wife, Jillian Shriner shines a light on allegations of mental illness in divorce and custody battles.
The Scott Shriner Custody Dispute: How Mental Health Allegations Can Detonate a Divorce
When news broke involving Scott Shriner, longtime bassist for Weezer, the headlines focused on chaos, police involvement, and disturbing behavior connected to his spouse. But buried underneath the celebrity shock value was a much more important — and far more common — legal issue:
What happens to child custody when mental health becomes a concern?
For celebrities, these stories play out in public.
For regular New Yorkers, they unfold quietly in Family Court and Divorce Court — but the legal consequences can be just as severe.
And once mental health enters the picture, custody cases stop being about schedules and start becoming investigations.
What the Scott Shriner Case Illustrates (Without the Celebrity Noise)
In disputes like the Shriner matter, the issue isn’t fame — it’s parental stability and child safety.
When allegations arise involving severe mental-health crises, erratic behavior, or dangerous conduct, courts don’t weigh opinions. They ask one question:
Is this parent presently capable of safely meeting the child’s emotional and physical needs?
That question cannot be answered with Instagram posts or lawyer arguments.
It gets answered through mental-health professionals — often court-appointed forensic evaluators.
That’s where New York parents need to pay attention.
Mental Health and Custody: When “Trouble at Home” Becomes a Legal Matter
People don’t always think of mental-health or mental illness struggles when they hear “custody dispute.” They think about money, parenting schedules, summer vacations. But mental health (or allegations thereof) is one of the biggest flashpoints in divorce and custody fights — and it often changes the entire trajectory of a case.
When a parent’s stability, behavior, or emotional state raises genuine concern for children’s welfare, the court may no longer rely on the parents’ word or a cookie-cutter agreement. Instead, the court brings in a neutral expert — a forensic mental-health professional — to assess what’s really going on.
Once mental-health is “in issue,” the stakes rise fast. Allegations of abuse, neglect, inability to cope, substance use, or untreated psychiatric illness may trigger a full-blown custody evaluation. The core question becomes: Which parent — if either — is psychologically and emotionally capable of parenting in a way that protects the child?
How New York Courts Handle Mental-Health Concerns in Custody / Divorce
In New York, when a custody dispute involves mental-health concerns — or anything raising substantial doubts about a parent’s fitness — judges often order a forensic evaluation. Under Domestic Relations Law § 240(1)(a-3) courts may appoint licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers — provided they meet training requirements, including trauma and domestic-violence awareness.
The professionals come from the state’s formal roster — the Mental Health Professionals Panel — which consists of several hundred qualified experts across the jurisdiction. (New York State Unified Court System)
By law only licensed psychologists or psychiatrists are appointed.
Once appointed, the evaluator will typically: interview both parents (and often the children), observe parent-child interactions (sometimes via home visits), administer psychological tests, review medical, school, social-services or prior mental-health records, and speak with collateral sources (teachers, relatives, caregivers, etc.).
his is not optional. It is not casual. And it is not quick.
A forensic evaluator may:
- Interview both parents multiple times
- Interview the children (age-appropriate)
- Administer psychological testing
- Review medical and mental-health records
- Speak with therapists, teachers, doctors, relatives
- Conduct home observations
- Issue a written report with custody recommendations
Once this starts, your divorce timeline changes overnight. It not uncommon for the case to get adjourned 6 to 8 months while we wait on the report.
And it is expensive.
At the end, the evaluator produces a written report with observations and recommendations, which the court may use — often heavily — in deciding what custody or visitation arrangement is in the child’s best interest.
The Hidden Price: Time, Money, Stress
Here’s where it gets real — and painful. A thorough, court-ordered forensic evaluation in New York isn’t cheap or quick. According to recent sources:
- Full evaluations in contested custody cases often range in cost from $3,000 to $60,000, depending on complexity.
- For complex or time-intensive evaluations (multiple interviews, psychological testing, collateral contacts, home visits, multiple experts), the cost can climb to the high end — realistically, $40,000 or more per side is not uncommon. (Many firms and practitioners confirm the higher-end numbers in serious cases.)
- The time added by these evaluations is also significant: while many evaluations aim for completion in about two months, scheduling interviews, coordinating multiple people, waiting for test results and reports, and dealing with court backlogs means it can easily add 6–8 months (or more) to what might have been a relatively straightforward divorce.
That’s not just financial — it’s emotional: parents (and children) remain in limbo, parenting is under scrutiny, and life plans stall. For divorcing spouses already under stress, this can feel like having the whole case freeze while someone else “investigates your soul.”
When Mental-Health Allegations Backfire
It’s easy enough for a spouse to raise mental-health concerns — but courts recognize that this can be weaponized. When one parent pushes for a forensic evaluation, the other parent may respond in kind. In many cases, the court will order a neutral evaluation regardless. As one guide notes, psychological testing can dig up unexpected issues — sometimes even suggesting problems in the accusing party.
Bottom line: once mental-health gets “on the table,” it’s not a matter for casual accusation. It triggers an invasive, expensive, and drawn-out process — and you may end up pointing the spotlight at yourself.
Why the “Celebrity Playbook” Is Dangerous for Regular Parents
Public custody disputes like Scott Shriner’s create a false impression that custody turns on exposing someone else’s mental health issues.
In reality:
- Raising mental health puts both parents under scrutiny
- Evaluators look for comparative fitness, not heroes and villains
- The accusing parent may be evaluated just as deeply
- Unexpected findings happen — often to the person who raised the issue
Once mental health becomes central, control leaves the parents’ hands and moves to clinicians and the court.
That is not a strategy — it is a structural shift in the case.
Takeaway — Before Raising Mental Health as a Stick, Think Twice
If you’re considering raising mental-health concerns in a custody case, here’s what to keep in mind (especially in New York):
- Understand that the court may — and often will — order a full forensic custody evaluation. That means interviews, tests, reviews — and eyes on both parents.
- Be prepared for significant costs (often tens of thousands of dollars) and serious delay (6–8 months or more) before resolution.
- Recognize the emotional toll — not just on you, but on the kids. The longer a custody dispute drags, the more uncertainty and stress for children.
- If the evaluation happens, show up prepared: be honest, collect relevant records (medical, school, therapy, prior evaluations), and cooperatively present yourself — because the evaluator’s impressions matter.
- Finally — and most pragmatically — consider whether you can resolve custody through agreement or mediation, avoiding the spiral of hostility, cost, and delay.
For families tangled in emotional instability or serious mental-health issues, forensic evaluations are sometimes the only responsible path. But for many others, the “nuclear option” can leave lasting scars — legal, financial, and emotional.
Mental Illness and Custody – Don’t Raise the Issue Unless It Really Exists
I get that you hate your ex. But, that doesn’t mean that your ex is mentally ill. And yes, your ex may be evil. I’ve run into a number of those people as well. But, evil is not necessarily crazy. Because of the cost and the delay in the proceedings don’t raise the issue unless real mental illness exists.
I’m talking about schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, bi-polar disorder, substance abuse or alcoholism. While you might view a narcissist or narcissism as mental illness, it not really a concern of a the Court.
Also be aware that a forensic can backfire and the report can be negative about you. The evaluator is not just looking for mental illness but the ability to parent and co-parent.
Dumping on and criticizing the other parent is bad. If you think that you will get the examiner on your side by criticizing your ex, you are dead wrong. The evaluator will tell the court that you can’t co-parent. That you can’t foster the relationship with the other parent and that you blame your short comings on the other parent.
CONCLUSION
Mental illness and Custody raise serious, significant and expensive issues in a divorce. Consider your options carefully being making these allegations. Celebrity divorces can be entertaining, but don’t use them as a guide for your divorce.
If you have questions, call Port and Sava (516) 352-2999 for a free 15 Minute Telephone Consultation.
