DO I NEED A CUSTODY EVALUATION IN MY CUSTODY CASE?
Many people have heard the phrase “custody evaluation” without really knowing what it is, and whether they need it in their custody case. In Maryland, Custody Evaluations are governed by Maryland Family Law 9-205.3, which defines a custody evaluation as: “a study and analysis of the needs and development of a child who is the subject of an action or proceeding under this Chapter and of the abilities of the parties to care for the child and meet the child’s needs.” A complete review of the statute provides further details related to how custody evaluations are completed and submitted. Broadly speaking, there are two types of custody evaluations in Maryland: (1) private evaluation, which is usually done by a forensic psychologist; or, a (2) court custody evaluation, which is usually done by an LCSW, although this does vary depending on the jurisdiction. The breadth of the evaluation is case specific and is controlled by court order. Accordingly, if you are agreeing to a custody evaluation by consent, it is important to provide a high level of detail as to the exact tasks and recommendations you want the evaluator to perform.
There is also a newer movement toward “Specific Issue Evaluations,” which are essentially custody evaluations that are limited to very specific and tailored issues, again, either by agreement or order of the Court. A Specific Issue Evaluation can be beneficial for families as it can keep the cost down and can be far less personally intrusive to complete.
Often times, determining whether parties are going to seek a private custody evaluation is cost prohibitive, as the cost for a private evaluation usually hovers around $35,000.00 per evaluation. On the other hand, generally, there is no cost for a court custody evaluation. However, cost is not the only consideration. When a private custody evaluation is completed, a party should expect that the evaluator will spend many hours interviewing each party, each child, family members, friends, providers, etc. Additionally, a custody evaluation will more likely than not contain psychological testing of the parties. Accordingly, it is important to consider whether you think there are any potential pitfalls in having this type of analysis done, and what your friends/family might say during their interviews.
Ultimately, the Court will have a detailed evaluation to review, that will make specific recommendations as to custody, but is the Court obligated to follow those recommendations? The answer is most certainly “no,” as the Court is still required to perform an independent analysis to determine the best interest of the child. However, in reality most courts are going to give a custody evaluation a lot of weight when making an ultimate decision.
If you end up getting a custody evaluation and you disagree with the recommendations, you may have the right to hire your own, independent expert to review the findings of the custody evaluation and ultimately testify as to why he/she believes those recommendations and conclusions are incorrect. However, as one can imagine, convincing the court that the initial neutral evaluation is incorrect is often a challenging task. Ultimately, it is important to get legal advice prior to making the decision of whether a custody evaluation is in your best interest during your custody trial.
