Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

How to Challenge the Forensic Psychiatrist's Report

By Marcy L. Wachtel and Pamela J. Sullivan
October 07, 2003

Envision the following scenario, which is not necessarily commonplace, but not unheard of, either: Your client, the mother of a 9-year-old girl and two boys, aged 2 and 5, has been married for 14 years, most of them unhappy. Your client has been struggling with, and is being treated for, a series of psychological problems, including bipolar disorder, suicidal ideation and post-partum trauma disorder. The client has been a stay-at-home mother, attending to the demands of three children with busy schedules. Her marital problems have increased dramatically since the birth of the youngest child, to the point where she now believes the domestic discord is detrimental to her own as well as to her children's emotional well-being.

Your client and her husband have fundamentally different philosophies on child rearing and have had a series of disputes on such crucial issues as psychiatric treatment and the correct medication for their daughter. This history forms the basis of your client's belief that joint decision-making with her husband is not viable and that sole legal custody is the only option. Furthermore, your client, while not wishing to cut the father out of the children's lives, is willing to offer him 'garden-variety' visitation of alternating weekends and one mid-week dinner, but she firmly believes the children should reside primarily with her in her home, particularly during the school week. Noting that the issues of custody and visitation are marked 'unresolved,' at the preliminary conference, the judge appoints both a law guardian to act as the children's advocate, and a forensic psychiatrist to meet and evaluate the family and make a recommendation regarding legal and physical custody.

Notwithstanding your advice regarding the risks attendant to litigation, in moving
forward with the divorce, the possibility of losing legal and physical custody of her children is the last thing on your client's mind.

Read These Next
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws Image

This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.

Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin Image

With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.

The Article 8 Opt In Image

The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.

Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York Image

In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?

Fresh Filings Image

Notable recent court filings in entertainment law.