Found New Witness - during evaluation in Florida

[justme73]

>>should my attorney request that of the court, or must i
>have
>>the evaluator write the judge another letter?
>
>If you think that you can get the evaluator to convince the
>judge to set a deadline without spending mo' money, then by
>all means, give it a shot.
>
>Otherwise, your attorney will need to request it.
>


our problem doesn't seem to be 'mo' money' but that she doesn't believe she has the power to pressure the other parent.

i remind you that the evaluator is an attorney and has  been conducting custody evaluations for two years now, so is a little new, which my attorney loves because she is 'fresh'.

what is going on now is that since the letter from the judge, which was now two months ago, where the judge gave the evaluator permission to continue with the evaluation without the other parent's input, she has not done so.

the eval. states that the other parent has made no attempt to initiate his portion of the evaluation, yet she has no idea as to how she should proceed. she feels that she does not have the power to complete the evaluation recommendation without the other parent's participation. we are at a stand still.

i have however urged my attorney to at least file a motion to compel, which should come about in the next couple of weeks.

i am at a loss. i do not know what else to do to get this over with for our children. this has been going on for two years as of november.

i feel like opposing will attempt to rid us of this evaluator and request a new one. i am growing very old with this case... and that would be very frustrating.

do you have any other suggestions?

[socrateaser]

>i feel like opposing will attempt to rid us of this evaluator
>and request a new one. i am growing very old with this case...
>and that would be very frustrating.
>
>do you have any other suggestions?

Instruct your attorney to ask the court to order the evaluator to complete the review forthwith, with whatever evidence has currently been discovered. Then, move for sanctions, against the evaluator to pay your litigation costs for the eval and for the next eval if it's required, if the evaluator fails to comply.

Not much else you can do. Although you could ask the court to waive the eval entirely on grounds that the other parent has refused to cooperate, and create a presumption that the other parent acts against the child(ren)'s best interests, and that the burden of proof should be on the other parent to demonstrate why custody should not be changed in your favor.

[justme73]

some other concerns that i have are that the evaluator really has not spoken with any of my witnesses.

in my initial interview, she stated that she felt the teachers on my list were the most important witnesses, but according to them, she has not contacted them.

also, during our home visit, she did not speak with the children. we were all at our dining table where the kids were playing a game and i showed her around the home.

later i called her office to see if i would need to set up an appointment for the children to meet with her and the receptionist stated that she usually speaks with them during the home visit.

i told the receptionist that she did not speak with them and she said that if the evaluator needed more time with them she would call me to request such an appointment.

should i be particularly concerned about all of this?

any advice? wouldn't filing sanctions against the evaluator hurt my case?

[socrateaser]

>some other concerns that i have are that the evaluator really
>has not spoken with any of my witnesses.
>
>in my initial interview, she stated that she felt the teachers
>on my list were the most important witnesses, but according to
>them, she has not contacted them.
>
>also, during our home visit, she did not speak with the
>children. we were all at our dining table where the kids were
>playing a game and i showed her around the home.
>
>later i called her office to see if i would need to set up an
>appointment for the children to meet with her and the
>receptionist stated that she usually speaks with them during
>the home visit.
>
>i told the receptionist that she did not speak with them and
>she said that if the evaluator needed more time with them she
>would call me to request such an appointment.
>
>should i be particularly concerned about all of this?'

Yes.

>
>any advice? wouldn't filing sanctions against the evaluator
>hurt my case?

I would do as I have already suggested. If the evaluator hasn't interviewed your witnesses, then she won't have anything to report. Then, you can put her on the stand and have your attorney question her as to why she never contacted any of the witnesses presented, and then, you move to have her removed by the court for incompetence and ask the court to order the evaluator to pay your litigation fees.

Or, you can just go along with the program and hope for the best. Personally, it seems to me that this evaluator is a supreme flake.

[justme73]

The motion to compel/sanctions hearing is on nov. 9th, but i just called the evaluator's office and found out the other parent has FINALLY called them and set up an appointment.

the evaluator's assistant said she would call me to let me know if he does not show up or does not pay them.

so... he did not comply with the original order, the letter from the judge to contact the evaluator within 7 days, but has finally done so when we filed a motion to compel.

1. how much does this weigh against him with the evaluator?

2. so now we should cancel the hearing?

3. do you have any other suggestions?

[socrateaser]

>1. how much does this weigh against him with the evaluator?

Probably won't have a lot of weight if he follows through, going forward.

>2. so now we should cancel the hearing?

I'd go through with the hearing and suggest that the other parent's stalling has cost you time and money, therefore, he should be ordered to reimburse you for requiring the hearing.

>3. do you have any other suggestions?

Nope.

[justme73]

my attorney really would like to stick with this evaluator, since the other parent has stalled so long, which seemed to irritate her(evaluator).

so regarding the fact that the evaluator has not contacted my witnesses yet... which you said i should be concerned about...

my attorney was concerned as well, and suggested that since keeping this evaluator may be beneficial to us that i should take steps to ensure that she hears from my witnesses and get them to write letters to her.

it was very difficult to approach teachers in the first place and explain the circumstances, asking what kind of information they would have to offer to the evaluator. now i must ask them to write letters?

1. could it possibly be that the evaluator waits until she has interviewed both parties before she speaks with my witness, so that she may be thorough... that she may have more questions for my witnesses after speaking with the other parent?

2. do you also think that i should go ahead and get letters from the witnesses?

3. what information should the letters contain? (ie from a teacher) what would the evaluator wish to hear?

thank you!

[socrateaser]

>1. could it possibly be that the evaluator waits until she has
>interviewed both parties before she speaks with my witness, so
>that she may be thorough... that she may have more questions
>for my witnesses after speaking with the other parent?

Too speculative. I can't comment.

>
>2. do you also think that i should go ahead and get letters
>from the witnesses?

Your attorney seems to think so -- you have nothing to lose. The letters are inadmissible hearsay, but in the hands of the evaluator, they may end up becoming convincing partis of the final recommendations.

>3. what information should the letters contain? (ie from a
>teacher) what would the evaluator wish to hear?

The evaluator will ask for more if the letters demonstrate something important to the case. So, you are looking for things that affect the children's best interests, and which make you look good, or the other parent bad. But, most of all, it needs to be the truth.