Custody Eval. ??

[HappyHCMom]

OK - maybe this is a new one?  BM requested the custody eval day before the trial was supposed to start (yet another delay tactic).  Gets one.  Doesn't have the money to travel to evaluators.  BF provides that to her.  Has parenting ?? and psycho-social questionnaires due yesterday at 5.  His was late (but cleared by the Dr.) but in last night.  Hers?  STILL not in.  Why?  
Has anyone ever had an uncooperative other parent to deal with as far as a custody evaluation?  I just don't get it.  

[mistoffolees]

>OK - maybe this is a new one?  BM requested the custody eval
>day before the trial was supposed to start (yet another delay
>tactic).  Gets one.  Doesn't have the money to travel to
>evaluators.  BF provides that to her.  Has parenting ?? and
>psycho-social questionnaires due yesterday at 5.  His was late
>(but cleared by the Dr.) but in last night.  Hers?  STILL not
>in.  Why?  
>Has anyone ever had an uncooperative other parent to deal with
>as far as a custody evaluation?  I just don't get it.  

It happens regularly - you can probably find examples here.

It reflects poorly on someone who does not cooperate with the custody evaluation. If it's simply a matter of the questionnaire being in late, it probably won't matter. But if she continues to avoid the evaluation, it will hurt.

BTW, why did the evaluator send the questionnaires home? They are normally done in his presence.

[hisliltulip]

If the questionaires are just being completed, you are still early in the process.

When dh went through custody evaluation for YSS, the questionaires were also sent to each parent then whoever else they requested as references.

YSS's Mom took FOREVER in filling hers out, this alone was not a big factor but was added into other factors.

Be patient, like DH's attorney said "Usually, if you give enough rope, they eventually hang themselves".  And he was right... she did...

[HappyHCMom]

She finally got hers in - over 48 hours late, and they had to push back the meeting 24 hours.  The eval. has to be done by 4/13, and it's being done by a private evaluator.  They each had to fill out a 40+ page questionnaire on parenting ?'s and another one on psycho-social ?'s and have those into the dr. before the meeting.  They did psych evals last week in her office, but on the computer (I think?).  
She (BM) is starting to lose it, I think.  I guess she couldn't have picked a better week to unravel!

[escape2paradise]

If you don't mind my asking, do you have any idea how much the psych eval by itself costs?  I have requested my ex to have one and in doing so will also be required to take one.  I've found some really outrageous estimates online ranging from $5000 - $7000.  I guess I'll suck it up if I have to as I am convinced, after much research, that my ex has antisocial personality disorder (evidently the same thing most of us know as a sociopath).  I'm hoping that these figures are way off base.

[mistoffolees]

>If you don't mind my asking, do you have any idea how much
>the psych eval by itself costs?  I have requested my ex to
>have one and in doing so will also be required to take one.
>I've found some really outrageous estimates online ranging
>from $5000 - $7000.  I guess I'll suck it up if I have to as I
>am convinced, after much research, that my ex has antisocial
>personality disorder (evidently the same thing most of us know
>as a sociopath).  I'm hoping that these figures are way off
>base.


It depends on the specifics. For example, some states require a licensed pscyhologist while others are more lenient. Some require a relatively cursory evaluation and others are much more in-depth. Your best bet is to ask someone local.

I've seen numbers as low as $600 on this board. Mine was $2,500. I could easily imagine that it would be possible to hit $7 K in a more complicated situation, but I think that would be extreme. Note that this is for a custody evaluation. In a different thread, you mentioned a GAL - which will presumably be more expensive because they stay involved longer than the custody evaluator (the custody evaluator does his thing, writes a report and drops out of the picture while the GAL is a signifcant part of the process from start to finish), so $5 to 7 K doesn't seem out of line.

For comparison, my $2,500 got me
- Full day with licensed psychologist for me
- Full day with my stbx
- Two one hour sessions for my daughter with him (each of us had to bring her in at different times to avoid bias)
- Psychological testing for both parents
- Phone discussoins with one reference
- Four page report

Given the amount of work he did and the normal fees for a quality licensed pscyhologist (typically $110 per hour in my area), the fee seemed to be pretty much in line.

Depending on the circumstances, it's not uncommon for both parties to split the cost (which happened in our case) or for the money to come out of marital (joint) assets. If your income and assets are dramatically different, you may end up paying more than half or even 100% - it depends on the specific court.

Good luck.

[escape2paradise]

Hi,  Yes we already have the GAL who is doing the full run down on both sides.  She is an attorney so she won't be doing the psych eval.   I'm not sure whom to ask locally about costs for such testing.  I guess I'll have to do more research.

Thanks!

[HappyHCMom]

Well, it was interesting, that's for sure.  
For the person that wanted to know the cost - it was $7500 and then another $5000 for travel to the homes/time/etc.  
They met with her in her office, then she did home visits last week.  The night before the home visits Mom decided to pitch a fit because she was going to Dad's house first, and left quite a number of messages with the evaluator complaining about it.  Made a complete a$$ out of herself.  Evaluator is aware of all her games, etc. which is wonderful.  I think we'll end up with at least 50/50 and may avoid a trial alltogether.  I just don't see Mom agreeing to anything though - and she may not agree with recommendations of evaluator, and force it to go to trial.  If she does that, since SHE is the one that requested the evaluation - won't that make her look further like an idiot?

[mistoffolees]

I would think the GAL should have that information.