Family
Jun. 27, 2025
Representing clients with mental health problems: At what cost?
A former family law judge reflects on the profound challenges mental health issues pose in high-conflict cases, urging the legal system and attorneys to recognize limits, prioritize true client well-being, and consider withdrawal or alternative approaches when managing mentally impaired litigants.
Patricia Garcia
Neutral
Signature Resolution
University of San Diego School of Law
Patricia Garcia is a neutral with Signature Resolution who has extensive trial and family law expertise. She served as a child support commissioner and then as a family law judge on the San Diego Superior Court, in which role she presided over complex family law trials, settlement conferences and international custody disputes. As a bilingual mediator, she guides Spanish-speaking parties who would otherwise require the services of a translator.
Toward the end of my tenure as a family law judge, I presided over a high-conflict case that indelibly imprinted itself in my memory. In an unpublished ruling, an appeals court affirmed my decisions finding that the appellant had not raised or preserved critical issues at trial and that those issues were thus waived.
It was a simple appellate question, but the underlying issues were far from simple...
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