Accessibility to a parent's psychotherapy records in custody disputes: how can the competing interests be balanced?

One of the issues that commonly arises in custody disputes is whether one parent or the court may obtain access to the records of the other parent's mental health treatment. The answer to this question varies across jurisdictions given that states do not treat the medical/psychological therapeutic privilege uniformly. These differences demonstrate the competing interests whenever a party's mental health records become an issue in a custody proceeding, and the attempt to balance the interests when the therapeutic privilege is asserted.