Evaluations

[Windd]

Socrates ,
Court appointed attorney for kids. Kids attorney chose evaluator. How likely will the judge go with the recommendations of the evaluator as neither side really chose this evaluator. If one party does not like the evaluation can they get their own? Again how likely is the judge to agree to it as it will just drag out the process and the initial evaluator is neutral as she was chosen by the kids appointed attorney.

What can be done to stop the dragging out of the process by requesting another evaluation?

[socrateaser]

>Socrates ,
>Court appointed attorney for kids. Kids attorney chose
>evaluator. How likely will the judge go with the
>recommendations of the evaluator as neither side really chose
>this evaluator.

Very likely.

 If one party does not like the evaluation can
>they get their own?

You may retain another expert to contest the evaluator -- expensive.

>What can be done to stop the dragging out of the process by
>requesting another evaluation?

Move to limit the number of experts as unnecessarily confusing and a waste of time.

[Windd]

I do not want another evaluation. I have not seen the report yet, however per my attorney the evaluator recommended a change in custody and that  I, the father, have custody of the kids. The report is pretty thorough, 34pages. The evaluator is a former public guardian for children (20yrs).The kids attorney has indicated he is pleased, however the STBX's representative, who recently came into the picture has indicated he will seek another evaluation if it is not favorable to his client. As the mother currently has custody the seeking of another evaluation is his way of letting her retain custody because then she can seek evaluation at her own pace.

Thank you for your comments.

[Brent]

Attorneys almost always say that they'll seek a new evaluation if it's unfavorable to their client, but most judges will go by the evaluator's report unless it can be shown to be severely flawed. They don't like "evaluation-shopping", plus most evaluations are difficult to overturn (again, unless they can be shown to be very flawed).

Overturning Parenting Evaluations
http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/overturn.htm