Hi 👋
If you had psychological report or reports done in a family law case, how did it go?
Especially if it was private law I wonder what kind of questions were there for the psychologist to answer (apparently the draft court order has to specify some questions which the psychologist has to address and these questions have to be agreed by all parties beforehand?) ..
I’m litigant in person and trying to draft questions and then send them to court with the request to the court asking if an psychologist expert can be instructed (as the court mentioned I’d have to do this if wanting a psychologist expert witness).
I only want this for a couple of reasons ie because otherwise the section 7 report will likely be accepted by court I’d imagine and this would be the worst outcome etc. The questions I would draft for the psychologist would be fairly simple and refer to the section 7 report and medical evidence but i think I probably misunderstand how to draft questions and maybe the respondent’s barrister will eventually point out the psychologist was never asked to look at some major thing that I should have included (?).
Are there any basic things a psychologist should be asked to look at - is it always about parenting that they should be evaluating (eg ability to parent) … it wouldn’t be the first thing that comes to mind in our case because the section 7 report hints a lot about parental alienation and emotional needs in relation to contact with both parents (for really obscure reasons).
And also one question for the psychologist I would put would be directly about the allegations and how the respondent looks at the issues / allegations.
less important but also I wonder has anyone found there is an upper limit to how long court would accept as a waiting time - as the psychologist I was going to name is maybe booked up for months as far as I know. Sorry long post but basically wonder if anyone has any experience of this at all and any thoughts on what kind of questions to the psychologist were helpful / unhelpful or important in your case.. Thanks so much for reading 🙏