custody eval for a 2 yo?

[HappyHCMom]

BF's son is in CA, he maintains a residence there for the purposes of visitation and is hoping to eventually have 50/50 to where he can have him here at our home in MI.  BM is very difficult - won't let him see him more than 4-5 hours a day, no overnights, etc. (driving factor is amt of CS depends on time spent with CP vs NCP).  
She has requested a custody eval.  What should he expect?  And it's one that they chose, so how do we know that this woman isn't biased against dads that want 50/50?  Any help is appreciated.

[mistoffolees]

This will vary a great deal from state to state, but I think my state is probably pretty typical.

One party can request a custody evaluation. The other side can agree without going to court or can ignore it until the court orders it (but figure that the court WILL order it because it's a painless way for them to not make the decision without expert guidance). In either case, your attorney should recommend several suggested evaluators. It would be very unusual for a court to accept a single name from the plaintiff and order that that evaluator be used.

You should therefore find out something about the evaluators in the area and which ones are fair (your attorney will probably know). Select a list of 3 and offer them to the BM saying that your BF will agree to custody evaluation with any of the evaluators on your list.

The BM will either respond that one of them is OK or will suggest an alternate list. It might go back and forth a couple of times, but probably not. The odds are pretty good that you'll find a decent custody evaluator that you can both agree on.

[HappyHCMom]

Thanks for the info. She is in CA.  Hopefully our attorney can find some alternates - I'm trying to research the one that they've recommended, also.  This whole situation is just frustrating.  The court system in the county she's in is so slow it's ridiculous.  

[mistoffolees]

It's apparently not just that county.

I filed for divorce in September and my wife agreed at that time on custody and financial issues. Even with that in hand, we're now into mid-February and NOTHING is resolved. In fact, we haven't even had our first appearance before the judge OR mediator.

The problem in our case is that her attorney is a known fee-chaser. He'll do anything do increase his fees. We're working on one issue right now that's so blatant that my stbx is undoubtedly going to end up paying my lawyer as well as her own.

[HappyHCMom]

oh GREAT.... I think that xGF's atty is the same way.  But they're fighting over everything - it took over a month to agree And she's lying about financials so her atty thinks she has no money, and bf is a high earner, so he's thinking he is all set.  Little does he know that what she claims she made for the year - she actually made more than that each MONTH last year.  
I hope your situation is finalized soon!  Thanks for your answers/time. :)