Understanding Custody Evaluations

So you may be doing a custody evaluation in your case. What does that mean? What’s the process? Hi, I’m attorney Clint Hastings, and I’m going to answer that question for you today. So not all cases use custody evaluators. You often just put on your evidence, your testimony, maybe some witnesses, they put on their side and the judge decides from that. Sometimes you want a more in-depth evaluation and an expert to present your case to a judge. And in that case, you get a custody evaluator appointed who has training in often psychology and standards that are put out by a committee of people that do work in this field all over the country, which gives guidelines of, you know, what do you look for in custody evaluation? Who should you be talking to? What kinds of questions should be answered? What is acceptable? What is reasonable? What is normal?

The Cost of Custody Evaluations

This requires paying an expert a fee. Often it can be several thousand dollars. It just depends on what you need to have done. Of course, if you have eight children in a complex situation, that could cost a lot. If you have a lot of witnesses you think need input on the evaluation, such as teachers, church members, family, and all the people involved in the children’s lives, then that’s gonna cost more. And then you have to pay them to come testify. So expect several thousand dollars at the minimum. It can be a great advantage in some cases. In some cases, it’s just not really necessary to spend the money. You’ll need to talk with me about that to make that determination.

Contact Us for a Consultation

Let me know if you have other questions and I will address them. To schedule a low-cost consultation, contact Tulsa Dads.Law attorney Clint Hastings at 918-962-0900.