Custody Evaluation Overview - What happens next?
Assuming your case is similar to other cases you can expect the following events to happen in the order they are listed:
Preliminaries (Your “To-Do” List)
☒1. Evaluator conducts orientation meeting with each adult party.
☐2. Each party (unless the court has assigned full payment to one side) makes initial payment. This is just an initial deposit. The full cost of recent cases has ranged from $ 2,482 to $ 6,563 with an average of $ 3,052.
☐3. Each party completes questionnaire and returns it to evaluator. (You may wish to also submit an electronic copy to save you the cost of the evaluator retyping your answers, but the “hard” copy is required).
☐4. Each party and any other adult who either lives in the home or with whom one of the parties has a significant romantic relationship with completes a notarized copy of the “Request for Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry” and returns it to the evaluator.
After the evaluator submits this form to the state, one of two things will happen. If there is no record in the registry, the evaluator will receive notification directly from the state. If there is a record, you will receive notification. If you receive notification, you should forward this to the evaluator.
The Study
Once both parties have completed “preliminaries,” their study will begin as soon as the evaluator can accommodate them in his schedule.
1. Evaluator will meet with each party for full interview.
☐Each party should provide the evaluator with all of the facts they want considered, including documentation from third parties (e.g. court orders, report cards, police reports, etc.) These should be submitted along with your questionnaire or at your interview. Documents submitted to the evaluator must be submitted to the other party as well, unless they have already been provided (e.g. during discovery).
2. Evaluator will conduct interviews with child(ren) (assuming an interview is appropriate to the age and development of the child(ren).)
3. Evaluator will conduct interviews with third parties (e.g. teachers, police, etc...), as needed, to verify facts, as well as collecting information from other collateral sources (e.g. criminal background checks.)
4. Evaluator will visit each proposed home while the child(ren) and any others who live in the home are present, as needed, and assuming such visitation is not prohibited by the courts.
5. Evaluator will conduct final interviews with each adult party.
6. Evaluator will write report, file it at the courthouse, and mail a copy to each party’s attorney.