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Get A Load of this Soc

Started by NWMom, Oct 04, 2004, 03:35:23 PM

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NWMom

Hi Soc,

I'll refresh you on my case.  I am the Mom who had her ex leave the state to Ca from Wa with the kids and have been in battle in CA ever since.  Financial jurisdiction remains in WA State.  

730 Evaluation was completed and was heavily in my favor.  Evaluator (PHD)
was hand picked as a neutral evaluator by the judge.  Both parties agreed to allow the judge to pick her own trusted evaluater.

Court hearing set for Oct 27th (can't wait) and now my ex has stated through his attorney to my attorney that they will fight the recommendation based on the fact that my e believes that the Phd lied.  He carefully states that he has dicussed in summary what the report said to one witness (my colleteral contact) and that now she is willing to change her story about what she told the evaluator.  

Now I know for a fact that the information was the same as when she spoke to me and that is why I originally asked her to allow the Phd to call upon for furhter information.  By the way this person is a school counselor.

The other two people were two of our three children.  He admits in this letter that he has dicsussed the evaluation report with the children and they deny what the Phd said.  Of course the only reason they would deny it to their father is because they do not want to make him mad or get in trouble.

1.  How big of an issue is discussing evaluation reports with the kids involved?  I'm pretty sure it is a big no no.

2.  Same goes for the counselor.  Discussing the report with a witness?

3.  I know you don't read tea leaves, but what do you think the judge will do about all this?  The Phd has recommended that he go to anger management classes prior to any future visits with the children.  Problem is he has physical custody of them at this moment until the court makes a ruling.

socrateaser

>1.  How big of an issue is discussing evaluation reports with
>the kids involved?  I'm pretty sure it is a big no no.

This is threading the legal needle, for sure. In many counties, the local court rules prevent disclosing the contents of an eval to any child, and removal of the report from the court's jurisdiction is a felony.

However, discussing the PHD's interview with the kids is not per se unlawful, unless the parent is proven to have disclosed the report contents to the children as part of the discussion. If the children are old enough to testify competently, your ex has the right to use them to rebut the expert's evaluation -- but, it will annoy the judge to no end, and it's pretty risky, because no one really knows what a child will say on the witness stand.

>
>2.  Same goes for the counselor.  Discussing the report with a
>witness?

Not a problem.

>
>3.  I know you don't read tea leaves, but what do you think
>the judge will do about all this?  

I don't read tea leaves, and you're asking me to guess as to how the judge will rule without my really knowing the severety of the evidence violations.

NWMom

I know I know Soc I ask you to read into the future too much...

However from a statistic point of view.  

1) Don't most judges go with the evaluators recommendation?  Especially when they are hand picked by the judges as a trusted evalutor?

As for the kids they are 14 and 13.  In Nov they will be 15 and 14.  They absolutley stated to the Phd and me that they want to come back home.  However we are dealing with a father who gets very angry so they will never admit to him that they went against him.  His psychological testing all came back as someone who could get so mad that he would not even remember what he did.  The report was 67 pages. His MMPI-II came back with two areas significantly elevated that concerned her.  

My lawyer seems to think that he is asking for trouble with the judge by accusing the Phd of being a liar.  His exact words are "These are serious
allegations"

2) Wouldn't most judges put a stop to the nonsense? Or could this drag out
another year?

I have numerous proof that the report is accurate.  All he has is the he thinks the world is out to get him and this is just another example.  Even his own biological father was a witness for my side.

socrateaser

>1) Don't most judges go with the evaluators recommendation?

Yes, but, most of the time, attorneys don't try to rebut the evaluator's testimony, because the case settles based on the likelihood that the evaluator's recommendations will be ordered.

>2) Wouldn't most judges put a stop to the nonsense? Or could
>this drag out another year?

Depends on how good the father's attorney is at making a case that the evaluator's report is in error. You're asking me to read the tea leaves again.

NWMom

We shall see...    I will keep you all posted.  Thanks Soc =)

InTheMiddle

We recently went through the same thing with the BM.

I was scared until the very end.  DH's kids suffer from PAS and would do anything, including lying to the evaluator, not to get BM angry with them.

Everytime we had an evaluation, we thought we had lost.

Came down to the court case, and the judge says he will take all the evidence under advisement and notify us by mail.  BM had witnesses, we decided to go just on the evidence and not drag the neighborhood and the children's mother down with it.

Have faith in the people in the judicial system.  They all saw through the lies.  Although we didn't find out we won until a week after the court case, it turned out that the judge had made his decision immediately after the hearing.

I have the sneaking suspicision that the case was decided before it was even heard.

Remember, the courts and their evaluators deal with people like your children's BF everyday.  They can see through the lies and deception.  If the BF does not have documentation that he has attended anger management classes before the court date, I know you will win.

I know what a frustrating situation you are in.  I was just there.  Have faith.  My positive thoughts and prayers are with you and your children.

NWMom

>Have faith in the people in the judicial system.  They all saw
>through the lies.  

I wish I could agree with you... but I stood in shock in my home state
court room and listened to lies on top of lies being told to the commisioner.  His response was to allow the case to go to CA and not even listen to any evidence. So not all can see through the lies.  Some just don't take the time to hear a case fairly.  This site is filled with people with such experience.

But I appreciate your kinds words.  I have never felt that the evaluation process has gone against me. I have so much evidence and truth on my side i  When the report was finished it was nice to hear that the truth was finally coming to the surface.

>I know what a frustrating situation you are in.  I was just
>there.  Have faith.  My positive thoughts and prayers are with
>you and your children.

Thank you so much!  =)  I am counting the days for the court hearing.
I will make a new post once the hearing is over to give an update.