Welcome to SPARC Forums. Please login or sign up.

Nov 13, 2024, 05:36:24 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Review of ''Psychologists Custody Strategies For Parents''

Available from: CHILD CUSTODY CENTER, VILLAGE PUBLISHING BUILDING, Seventy-three Valley Drive, Village of Furlong, PA, 18925. (800)553-7678 (800)633-7223 FAX (215)794-3386 or from Custody Center.Com.

The first thing you notice about the book "Psychologists Custody Strategies For Parents" is that it's not a book, it's a a 3-ring binder, just like a notebook. The 76-page single-sided manual is printed in a huge font size, about 20 pt. or so. There are also an additional 35 pages of inserts, covered later in this review. The format is intended to make it easy to digest the information in small chunks, and the large-print pages have wide margins to aid in making notes on the pages. Printed in a normal font the book would only run about 20 or 25 pages in length, but the format they've chosen works well.

The authors, Dr. Barry Bricklin and Dr. Gail Elliot cover 14 major points they feel to be of critical importance in winning a custody battle. The authors cover topics like "the importance of having the right attorney" and "how to avoid becoming obsessed with your case" with brevity and clear, common sense language. The authors have both been involved in custody issues "since the early 1960's" and have compiled their experience into this manual.

Some of the points they cover, such as "knowing what kind of evidence influences a particular judge the most" would be worth the price of admission all by themselves. These are the kinds of key points that can make all the difference in the world. There is also discussion on how to make your attorney work more effectively for you, ways to give testimony with impact and the value of being the initiator (filing first) in litigation.

(I was pleased to see that much of what they cover was also available in The Laymans Guide To Being A Good Client, a publication that was written exclusively for the SPARC site and is available nowhere else.)

The authors also warn you to treat the book like a secret weapon; don't discuss the contents with friends or anyone else. The authors caution "Do not even allow this handbook to lie around where it can be read by the wrong people." I have to agree; as with all serious weaponry, this is NOT the kind of thing you want to fall into "enemy hands".

At the end of the book are 35 pages of photocopied inserts of articles relating to custody and domestic relations. Some of the inserts, although of marginal copy-quality, are quite instructive as well.

After reading through it, I asked myself the ultimate test question: "If I had the opportunity to buy this book during my divorce, would the information in it have been worth $59.00 to me?"

The answer is an unqualified "Yes". The information could be priceless, depending on your situation. If you're in a custody battle or are going to have a custody study done, this book is well worth the money, no doubt about it.

We rate "Psychologists Custody Strategies For Parents" as a 3-star resource (on a scale of 1 to 5). Although it is a valuable guide, it is overshadowed by products such as "Win Your Child Custody War".

Articles in « Book and Product Reviews »