In the recent case of Marriage of Adams & A, (2012) ___ Cal. App. 4th ___, on appeal, the Appellate Court determined that the Child Custody Evaluator (“Expert”) (i.e. Evid. Code 730 Expert) took a biased approach against the father evidenced through the recommendations of unreasonable burdens placed on the father to spend time with the child.
The result of the Expert’s “bias” resulted in the Expert being removed from the case and the matter sent back to the trial court.
In practice, this does not mean that any child custody evaluator who takes a position contrary to one parent is “biased.” The circumstances in this case and the experts actions are unusual, but the principle of whether an expert’s bias should be considered and guarded against is the point of this post.
Bottom line, if your case involves a child custody evaluation with a psychologist, making recommendations, and completing a psychological exam, you need to have an expert attorney representing your interests because of the complexities.