Divorce: Child Custody Evaluations in Ohio

child custody evaluation divorce

Ohio Child Custody Evaluation – Supreme Court Approves New Rule

Child Custody Evaluations: Ohio Moves to Standardize Qualifications For Mental Health Professionals and Courts

child custody evaluation divorceThe positives versus the negatives of Court ordered child custody evaluations in a divorce is still subject to debate. I posted a blog article about this controversy on January 7, 2017. Click here to read it. The same opposite positions exist today, 6 years later.

As a seasoned divorce litigator, I will share that in my opinion they can be very helpful in settlement negotiations and ultimately as evidence if custody is litigated at trial. The biggest logistical problem is finding experienced psychologists willing to perform them. That is certainly true, at least in the Dayton area anyway. There are individuals conducting them in the larger cities like Columbus and Cincinnati. This is the subject of frequent frustration of family law and divorce lawyers in Dayton wanting to move forward with this type of evaluation.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GUARDIAN AD LITEM INVESTIGATION AND A CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATION?

Here are the links to three past blog articles that we have posted about GAL investigations:

Click here to read about the Updated Guardian Ad Litem … Read More... “Divorce: Child Custody Evaluations in Ohio”

Child Custody Evaluations: Helpful or Harmful?

Child Custody Evaluations Tool Under Fire

child custody evaluationsDivorces can be messy – potentially even more so when children are involved.  Emotions run high and often cause rational thinking and behavior to be thrown out the window.  Because of this, the court system has different “tools” to help it determine what is in the best interest of the children when custody is at stake.

One such tool is a child custody evaluation.  These evaluations are typically conducted by a mental health provider who give the court a recommendation regarding where the children should live, parenting time, and basically an overall picture of the family dynamic as it relates to the custody case.

In theory, these evaluations should help both the parties involved and the court.  However, a recent study seems to show otherwise.

In an article published in Court Review, Dr. Ira Daniel Turkat, a licensed psychologist and family law litigation specialist, conducted what he claims to be the first known quantitative study on the detrimental effects of child custody evaluations.

In his study, Turkat surveyed 101 people from 35 states who: 1- were divorced, 2- had participated in a custody evaluation by a psychologist, 3- gave details about the … Read More... “Child Custody Evaluations: Helpful or Harmful?”