Navigating the Cost and Complexity of Experts
Hello, my name is Brian L. Jackson. I’m a Tulsa father’s rights attorney here with Dads.Law where fathers are not disposable. And I’m going to talk a little bit more. Last time I left off with special needs children. Let’s talk about some types of experts you might need for your custody case and when and kind of what that looks like.
Forensic Interviewers
So the first type of expert that you might use in a custody case would be a forensic interviewer. And these folks usually come into play if you’re talking about really serious allegations of child abuse, child neglect. They’re used sometimes with sexual abuse cases. And the idea is they’re there to interview the child and get at what the child’s version of events are and the credibility of the child. And they can sometimes be used as a way to get around the hearsay rules through the child hearsay exception. And get evidence into court of the child’s statements without making the child testify. And typically you’re talking about a fairly expensive process. Anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 and up for one of these interviews to take place. And then it costs additional money if you want that person to testify. And because they are an expert witness they’re entitled to an expert witness fee. Which can be quite extensive. So in other words you don’t usually use somebody like that unless you’re talking about a pretty serious allegation.
Custody Evaluations and GALs
Another type of expert that you might bring into play where this is a little bit more common and somewhat less expensive are custody evaluations, GALs. And these folks, GAL is usually an attorney or they are an attorney. And they’re there as an investigative arm of the court. And they’re there to kind of try to ascertain what’s going on and potentially make a recommendation to the court as to what they believe to be in the best interest of the child. The court’s not bound by the recommendation but it’s generally considered very persuasive. Custody evaluators are similar except they’re usually not attorneys. It’s usually like a psychological expert. It may charge a little bit more than a GAL but they do a similar task because they’re going to look at the suitability of each parent as a potential custodian. And again having these people come to court to testify can be somewhat pricey. And you should be prepared for that if you’re going to bring someone like that into play.
Psychologists or Psychiatrists
Another type of expert you might also find yourself using under the right circumstances would be like a psychologist, psychiatrist of your own. If, for example, there were allegations made about your mental health or maybe substance abuse allegations where you might need to bring somebody in who can testify to the fact that, yeah, you do actually have your head screwed on straight. And I’m not trying to be funny about that but just to be blunt about it, that’s another type of expert. And again that could cost quite a bit of money to have that person come to court with you.
Call for a Low-cost Strategy Session
Those are some examples of experts you might use. And the bottom line with that situation is if you have to bring an expert to court with you, you’re probably talking about spending quite a bit of money and you should be prepared for that. And you do need a good lawyer because getting them qualified as an expert is not as straightforward as you might think it is. And for them to render an opinion, then they need to be qualified. You need a good lawyer. And one place you can find a good lawyer is at Dads.Law where fathers are not disposable.
