Dahua Case Analysis | Can psychological assessment results be used as evidence in determining child custody?

Case Summary

In the first lunar month of 2000, Wang A got to know and fell in love with Li M.

In February 2002, the eldest daughter, Wang Xiaoyi, was born.

In September 2005, the two went through a formal marriage registration.

In January 2011, son Wang Xiaoxiao was born.

Since 2005, Wang A has continuously cheated on his wife with multiple women, and has a son with one of them. Later, Li M filed for divorce in his hometown. Due to personal reasons, Li M withdrew the lawsuit.

In early 2018, Wang Li returned his son to his hometown, allowing the child to live with his grandparents. Since then, Li Ming has been unable to contact his son.

In May 2018, Wang Mou filed for divorce in Shenzhen.

During the lawsuit, both parties firmly demanded the custody of their son.

The focus of this case

Both parties claim custody of the son. Whose custody should the son be awarded to?

Lawyer analysis

In this case, we believe that Wang Xiaoxiao has reached the age of 8 and hope the court can allow the child to appear in court to express their true wishes regarding custody. However, the court believes that since the child is under the age of 10, they cannot be allowed to appear in court, but will entrust relevant institutions to conduct a family observation of the child for reference in judging the child's wishes for custody.

The psychological assessment results show: From the child's placement of the family board, the child hopes to be next to their grandparents, with the mother's position behind the grandfather and father.

Although we acknowledge the family arrangement results of the child, we believe that the results are only a subjective presentation of the child's current living situation. The main reason for this result is that the child currently spends different amounts of time with each family member, which does not truly reflect the child's actual needs for foster care and living environment. The result that the child places grandparents first also exactly indicates that the child's current living situation is not normal, and has gradually formed a situation of intergenerational foster care with the child's father severely absent. In the written statement, the daughter also repeatedly expressed that it has been the mother who has been taking care of her brother. Additionally, a small detail in this case is also worth noting: during the child's second psychological assessment, the grandmother tightly held the child's hand, disregarding the child's desire to get close to the mother, and forcibly prevented the child from interacting with the mother.

All of the above indicates that the child's living condition has been severely distorted and unnecessarily disturbed due to the parents' divorce lawsuit.

We hope that the court, in addition to the psychological assessment results, can also see the essence through the phenomena, thoroughly understand the child's living conditions, and truly make a judgment that is beneficial for the child's growth and success.

Judgment result

The first-instance judgment awards custody of the son to Li Mou, with Wang Mou responsible for the corresponding child support.

The judgment is upheld on appeal.

Lawyer's closing remarks

The divorce of parents inevitably brings about certain effects on children, and how to ensure that children can grow up in a favorable and loving environment after their parents' divorce is a more pressing issue for us to focus on.

The case has gone through first-instance and second-instance trials. Through the joint efforts of the lawyers and the parties involved, as well as reasonable and well-supported arguments, ultimately, the child's living conditions were continued without changing their learning and living environment, and the de facto grandparental custody was also prohibited. This maximizes the protection of the interests of minors.

All along, the dispute over custody of the child has been a focal issue in divorce lawsuits. Children are the apple of their parents' eyes, and no one wants to let their child leave them. In this situation, how to minimize the harm to the child is also a problem that both parents need to consider. In addition to patience and love, professional lawyers are also needed to guide the process, truly considering the child's interests from the perspectives of emotion, reason, and law, and truly prioritizing the child's interests to minimize the child's harm as much as possible.