We conduct forensic evaluations for family law cases. Most people never undergo a forensic evaluation, so a brief description may be helpful.
Psychological Evaluation
A psychological evaluation has one purpose – to assess the mental condition of a person. The evaluation focuses on determining the presence of such issues as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder among others as well as drug and alcohol issues. The evaluation also considers personality disorders such as borderline personality, narcissistic personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder among others. A psychological evaluation involves a lengthy interview of an individual, observation, testing, record review and seeking comments from third parties (i.e. collaterals). The other parent is typically, but not always, interviewed regarding their observations regarding the individual undergoing the evaluation. A psychological evaluation is not a custody evaluation and thus no comments or recommendations are made about parenting rights and responsibilities.
Child custody or parenting time evaluations
A child custody evaluation, also known as a parenting time evaluation in some states, has the purpose of determining the parenting characteristics, needs of the child and the resulting fit. A child custody evaluation provides must consider different factors according to the family code of a state. We conduct child custody evaluations in accordance with the model standards and guidelines of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, the American Psychological Association and the American Association of Matrimonial Lawyers. Aspects of a psychological evaluation are incorporated in our custody evaluations.
Parent competency evaluations
A parent competency evaluations assesses the parenting characteristics of one parent and their relationship to the child(ren). In many ways, it is similar to a custody evaluation with the exception of evaluating the other parent and the comparative fit. A parent competency evaluation provides the strengths and weaknesses of a parent and the relationship with the child(ren) but does not provide recommendations regarding custody issues.
Review of a custody evaluation
The quality of a custody or psychological evaluation varies widely. We often review an evaluation when an evaluation falls short of meeting requirements in a state’s family code or the model standards and guidelines. A review does not deal with case specific information, but rather the sufficiency of the report in meeting state guidelines and professional standards. An evaluation which falls short in these areas is likely to be unreliable and of questionable value to the court.
Guardianship and other evaluations
Evaluations are conducted when termination or establishment of guardianship is an issue for a child or an adult at risk. When a will is contested, an evaluation to determine the mental condition of the testator and the presence of undue influence can be evaluated.