Family courts target military with dubious labels
When someone with military experience walks into a family courtroom, they can expect to be labeled with PTSD or other mental instability, and that can often lead to adverse child custody outcomes.
Our military heroes protect our freedoms, but when they walk into a family courtroom, their freedom to be a parent is often trampled upon.
Worse yet, judges, lawyers, and other court actors often cite their military service as a reason to reduce or eliminate custody and visitation time with their children.
John Cortesi has been retired from the Army since 2004.
He hasn’t seen his son in over two years; the court has deemed him too mentally unstable, and his military service is linked to this mental instability.
One report produced by Deborah Barnes cited a mental health issue from 2003 as a reason to keep him away from his child.
“The CCRC {Child Custody Recommending Counselor} has concerns regarding the father’s mental health stability. These concerns are based on the information that the mother has provided in addition to the instability that the father has exhibited in his interactions with this CCRC. The father’s intake form indicates that he was hospitalized for mental health issues in 2003 for depression but didn’t provide the diagnosis as it is private information.”
This report, done by Barnes, was done in 2019. Normally, a sixteen-year-old mental health issue would not be a concern, but in this case, what happened while he was in the military took a prominent role in this evaluation.
Another evaluation made an even more direct link.
“This CCRC has held a part-time position working at the Mather VA Hospital for the past seven years assessing and diagnosing veterans with a variety of psychiatric conditions and this CCRC therefore might be able to help father with feeling that his disability is correctly understood. This CCRC has reviewed father's Declaration, which states that he has been harmed and/or treated poorly by mother, mother's attorney, a private mediator and two judges.” A report written by Joyce Medari noted. “While it is possible that this CCRC may eventually be viewed by father as also treating/regarding him unfairly, she is nonetheless willing to see if there is anything that can be done to ensure that father and child have some form of reasonable and safe visitation.”
I reached out to both Medari and Barnes but received no response.
I also reached out to Cortesi’s ex-wife’s attorney, Carla Harms, but she also did not respond to a message at her office.
Cortesi said his so-called mental instability was used first to get a protective order and then took on a prominent role in his subsequent child custody case. This instability was often linked to his military service, he said.
Cortesi said his work in the Army remains classified and only described it as “communications.”
In other cases, the link between mental instability and military service is more subtle.
In an application for a restraining order against a retired Israeli military member, the service member was constantly labeled with mental instability and then his military service was used to amplify the instability.
“{The military member’s} abusive and violent conduct and threats to me and my family have caused me great distress and physical and emotional and mental suffering.” The restraining order application began. “His background as an Israeli Navy Seal further frightens me daily.”
In other cases, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), even if it’s due to war fighting, can be used for an adverse child custody decision.
That’s what happened to Chris Rainbolt in Oklahoma. Rainbolt served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I'm a 100% disabled combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. When going through my custody case they had used my military against me and claimed that I had PTSD as why I couldn't have my son.” Rainbolt explained further in an email. “I'm going on 6 years of no physical contact with my son and in January was my last virtual visit with my son.”
This doesn’t surprise Melissa Isaak, who is a father’s rights attorney in Alabama.
She is in the reserves herself, and she told me that when she represents an active duty or retired military, she expects mental instability to be brought up.
She said if someone served in combat then she expects that military person to be labeled with PTSD, while arguing against custody.
If they didn’t serve in combat, she expects the other side to claim the military person is abusive and/or controlling.
Sometimes, the military person is labeled with mental instability though it’s not linked to their military service, but their military service is cited in other ways to negatively argue against custody.
Dmitri Shvets is currently serving in the Navy.
He said he has been labeled repeatedly with mental instability, a label which has had an adverse effect on his child custody case, but his military service was not cited as a reason.
Instead, the lawyer for the other side instead suggested his military service meant that he was too busy to be a father.
Below is part of an exchange with the lawyer.
I reached out to Eric Plumlee, who represented Shvets’ ex-wife and did the examining, but he did not respond to an email.
Interactions by military and Child Protective Services (CPS) can also be fraught with violations of rights as well.
Chad Farley and his wife Jessica live in Tennessee. In 2021, they had their children taken. Connie Reguli is their attorney and she told me that Chad’s disability, from his military service, was used against him both when authorities came to take his children and when he went to court.
Chad’s is disabled and has both difficulty seeing and hearing. Rather than providing accommodations, case workers and court actors ignored his disabilities.
Connie told me that his child was taken with no warrant or court order but because he had difficulty understanding authorities, his rights were violated.
“I wasnt allowed to have a caretaker or guardian see what they had me sign as I couldn't read it without proper glasses (legally blind). they threatened both me and my wife that I would not have my any of my ada's accommodated in jail (using my injuries from service and scaring my wife about me not being taken care of using my service against me and that I would lose my va pension if I was locked up. the judge asked me questions last hearing and when I answered them I was kicked out of the court room ( first time every in my life) because I was talking over her.” Chad explained further. “I am hearing impaired and have cochlear implants and the delay was terrible. They continue to use things like this against me knowing I can't keep up with all the people in the courtroom talking, during covid they wouldn't even take masks down ( with proper distancing ) for me to read their lips.”
Connie told me that CPS demanded his psych records from his military times, but that CPS is intrusive in this way with most people.
She also said that at no time did CPS suggest that any of his disabilities were a reason to take or keep his child because this would be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Chad’s rights under ADA were violated instead by the lack of accommodation he received, she said.
This is in sharp contrast with what Isaak told me. She said that judges will often cite PTSD or other similar disorders as a reason for an adverse child custody arrangement.
Even though this too would violate ADA, Isaak said judges get around this by arguing that examining PTSD or other ailments is “in the best interest of the child” the standard in child custody.
Isaak said labels like PTSD are a red herring. She has found no study or other evidence that someone suffering from PTSD, TBI, or other similar disorder is a worse parent.
Furthermore, she has found that the military is proactive in making sure that PTSD and TBI sufferers get the mental health treatment they need, and as such, these labels completely misconstrue how the military deals with those who deal with these disorders.
Post-script
This article was written as part of a grant from the Military Veterans in Journalism. Find their website here.