How useful are a GAL’s or custody evaluator’s recommendations?
This post is the twelfth in series of 15 posts on the subject of custody evaluations and the appointment of guardians ad litem (“GALs” for short) in Utah child custody cases when the judge could simply interview the children instead. You do not have to read all 16 posts to benefit from this series. Read as many or as few as you wish.
The purpose of this series is to make the case for the proposition that an interview by the judge is a faster, more accurate, more particular, more reliable, and less expensive form of evidence than what a GAL and/or custody evaluator provides.
Then there’s the nature and quality of the guardian ad litem’s and/or custody evaluator’s recommendations. They are never, never detailed or presented in a manner that subjects them to independent objective verification. The guardian ad litem makes a recommendation to the court the guardians recommendations are cursory and vague. Things like, “I’ve spoken to my client and he is scared of his father.” While a custody evaluator’s recommendations may include more background information and supporting detail, as I stated previously, the problem with custody evaluator recommendations is that I’ve had more than one custody evaluator confided to me that they are afraid to give their frank assessments and opinions because they fear being reported to their licensing boards and/or being sued if they happen to make recommendations adverse to a parent. So, custody evaluators also end up giving vague, equivocal, and less than completely forthright analyses and recommendations.
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