Question:     I need to get a divorce from my wife.  We have been married for over 15 years but things have gotten bad.  She's drinking a lot and not taking her pills for depression.  So she's really hard to live with.  She made me move into the basement with our two dogs.  So I sleep in the same room as the dogs.  And she spends all her time on social media like Facebook and she doesn't even seem to care that much about the kids anymore.

I have some questions about a divorce.  I'd like to know how her mental illness and drinking will be a factor in things like child support, custody and alimony.  I have worked for a company for over 20 years and she has really never worked.

We met through mutual friends in Atlanta and we got married and moved to Roswell.  She gets drunk and says mean things like I should get a penis transplant and that I have rocks in my head.  I don't think I can take it for much longer although I'd like to stay married for the kids.  Or at least until they go to college.

Please answer my questions.

T.V. in Marietta, Georgia

Answer:     Many people suffer from mental illness and alcoholism.  And many people can take medications to treat depression and there are many good programs available for drinking, including Alcoholics Anonymous.

Child custody is determined by the best interests of the child standard.  So if you and your wife cannot agree on a custody arrangement, then a judge will make that determination.  If you wife's metal issues and alcohol abuse will impact the children negatively, then a judge may not award her custody. 

If you get custody, then your wife may have to pay you child support.  Alternatively, if she is awarded custody, then you may have to pay her child support.

As for alimony, a number of factors are looked at, including the duration of the marriage and the ability of each party to be self-supporting. 

It's interesting to note that we are getting a lot of questions about spouses who are spending a lot of time on internet social media like Facebook, to the exclusion of their partners. 

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