The Legal Issues 155
are exactly the kinds of issues on which custody cases turn. The
social worker will then make extensive reports back to the court
on these various criteria.
Frankly, most judges don’t like being put in the position of hav-
ing to rule on something as earthshaking as a custody determina-
tion based strictly upon a short courtroom hearing. Instead, at the
initial stages of the divorce proceeding, the judge will strive to
put some kind of status quo arrangement in place that leaves each
party “as is” as much as possible. Perhaps the judge will simply
stick with the existing situation and just leave the kids where they
are, or perhaps temporary joint custody will be awarded, with
half time to each parent.
Then the judge often will defer the case until a custody evalua-
tion has been conducted and the social worker/evaluator reports
back. The judge will place heavy reliance (not one hundred per-
cent, but a substantial degree of reliance) on what the experts
have to say. The parties usually realize this, and they will often
settle the case themselves based upon their receipt of the “hand-
writing on the wall” as contained in the analysis/recommenda-
tion of the custody evaluation.
Conversely, the parties can choose to take the case all the way
to trial. They will each then attempt to bring a bunch of child psy-
chologists, their neighbors, or other various character witnesses
into court for a full (and very expensive) trial. The neighbors may
say, “Yeah, I thought he was a good dad.” The shrinks may say,
“She did well on the Minnesota Multiphasic Exam,” and so forth.
Generally, judges won’t allow the kids to testify or come into the
courtroom, but they may try to divine out their desires in some
more subtle fashion. Then the judge rules, often (although not
always) following along the lines of the social worker ’s initial
report, but at least everyone gets their day in court. Custody rul-
ings are notoriously tough to appeal. A judge’s custody decision
will not be set aside unless a manifest abuse of the Family Court’s
wide discretion in these matters can be shown.
Contested custody cases generally cost a minimum $10,000 in
attorneys’ fees. They are really messy, emotionally draining, and
very tough on the kids. Finally, the parties are rarely speaking to
each other by the time it is over.