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In the course of a divorce or paternity case, each parent’s responsibilities and right to time with the children can become very complicated. In order to better understand the circumstances of a family, a judge may decide to order a custody evaluation through the assistance of a third-party expert to determine what custody arrangement is in the best interest of the children.

Through the custody evaluation process, this expert evaluates the circumstances for the child or children involved and recommend a custody and timesharing arrangement. This process can address a variety of issues as well, such as a request by one parent to relocate the children away from Hawaii; the impact of domestic violence; alcohol or drug use or abuse; or one parent’s actions to deny access or alienate the other parent from the children.

There are two types of third-party experts, child custody evaluators and fact finders:

• The state of Hawaii has a list of Family Court-approved licensed, trained custody evaluators, most of whom are psychologists or psychiatrists. To qualify for the list, they usually have a higher level of formal education and training than fact finders.
• A fact finder is also a trained professional, such as a social worker or attorney, with extensive experience in handling child-related custody disputes.

In order to have a fact finder appointed to perform a custody evaluation, the individual must be agreed upon by both parties and approved by a judge. However, a judge can appoint a custody evaluator without the agreement of one or both parties. Fact finders are usually less expensive and have more schedule availability than custody evaluators, but this varies with the individual experts.

Which to choose depends on how difficult the custody case is. More complicated cases are more likely to require a licensed child custody evaluator. At any time prior to a trial, either party can request a fact finder or a custody evaluator, but the judge has the final authority to determine if one is appropriate.

The entire custody evaluation process usually takes at least six to eight weeks. Once the judge orders a custody evaluation, the third-party expert will begin the evaluation. Their tasks may include: reviewing relevant documents; performing home visits if possible; meeting with each parent to discuss their proposed custody and timesharing preference; and contacting other adults who are significant in the life of the children, such as extended relatives, teachers, pediatricians, therapists, or anyone else that can help them reach a conclusion.

Upon completion of the evaluation, the third-party will provide a written recommendation to the judge in the form of a comprehensive report and, if requested, will testify in a hearing in support of their findings. The expert’s recommendation is not binding on the judge. However, it is unusual for a family court judge to choose not to follow a third-party expert’s recommendations. Once the report is issued, if the parties can come to a settlement, the process will end. If not, the case will proceed to trial where the judge will make a final decision.

As you undertake the custody evaluation process, Seth Harris, senior associate of the PMK family law division, can help you decide whether to employ a third-party expert and which type will best fit your needs.

The phrase “establishment of paternity” is the legal process of determining who a child’s biological father is. Upon determining paternity for a child, the process also generally establishes the rights and responsibilities are for each parent regarding the child. A Petition for Paternity can be initiated by either parent or by the state child support enforcement agency (if one parent is receiving support from the state in the form of cash, food or state medical insurance) in an effort to minimize reliance on state-sponsored aid.

If there is a question whether the named father is, in fact the biological father of the child, any party can request a DNA test to confirm parentage. Paternity is established when both parents agree with the test results (or if they don’t and a judge makes a determination based on the evidence). Following that determination, the court can consider issues such as which parent will have custody and how much time each parent will have with the child based on the child’s best interest. Other issues to be resolved include financial decisions, such as child support, as well as who will pay childcare expenses, health insurance premiums, and extracurricular expenses, and who will claim the child for tax purposes.

A judge may also order other support in the form of a life insurance policy or child support going back a period of months or years since the parents stopped living together. If the parents never cohabited, child support can go back to the date of the child’s birth and the custodial parent may also claim birth expenses. As in divorce proceedings, the court determines the amount of child support based on a child support formula based on each parent’s respective gross income and any contributions to child care costs and the costs of the child’s health care insurance.

Seth Harris, an experienced attorney at the PMK family law division, can guide you through the legal paternity process, from answering questions and filing a petition to providing representation in a paternity hearing, seeking favorable settlement or proceeding to a contested trial.

The cost of a divorce case is almost always directly related to the number and complexity of disputed issues. Because an uncontested divorce requires no additional litigation, it can be completed more quickly, sometimes in as little as two weeks, saving on significant costs.

A fixed rate uncontested divorce is the simplest and least expensive method of resolving a divorce and is available in the event that both parties agree on all issues in question and no trial or additional litigation is required. For a set price the attorney drafts the necessary court documents to complete the divorce. PMK is now offering fixed rate uncontested divorce services. Please contact Seth Harris, senior associate of the PMK family law division, to learn more about this service.

An uncontested divorce, when both parties agree on all issues in question, affords both parties two key advantages: cost and speed.

If all issues are settled in advance, an attorney representing one spouse can prepare the initial documents to initiate the case as well as the divorce decree and the supplemental documents and then serve the documents on the other spouse for approval. If after reviewing the documents, both parties agree, they can finalize them and submit them to the judge for review and filing, resulting in a final filed Divorce Decree.

Because an uncontested divorce requires no additional litigation, it can be completed more quickly, sometimes in as little as two weeks. In addition, an attorney’s role is more limited and they are able to focus on the most efficient way of assisting their client complete the divorce documentation, thus able to charge less.

PMK Partner Maxwell K. Kopper spoke with Jane Sugimura on ThinkTech Hawaii’s Condo Insider on October 30, 2020 about condo living during the pandemic. Kopper discussed how Covid-19 restrictions affect condo living including the restricting of amenities, employee HIPA concerns and setting PPE and distancing rules for common areas.