Family Court Expert Reports

Independent Expert for Family Court Reports provided by Aresolution

With over 8 years experiences running a family dispute resolution business, child inclusive practice mediation and a team of psychologists Heidi Smith and Megan Moosa can assist with your family court expert report requirements.  Megan is experienced in preparing a wide range of psychological assessments including parenting capacity assessments for Family Court.

We work to provide sound psychological evaluations that can provide meaningful information to the Family Court to make decisions about the best interest of the child and how to share care.

The focus of the evaluations on parenting capacity, the psychological and developmental needs of the child, and the resulting fit.

When families are fractured, the recommendations provided by a psychologist can help these families achieve positive relationships post-divorce by developing parenting plans that allow children to have positive and meaningful relationships with their parents.

What type of issues are suitable for a Family Court expert report?

A resolution can assist with a wide range of complex issues – domestic violence, risk assessment and parental alienation. Our evaluation can address these complex issues in a reliable and valid manner.

We can assess parents’ attributes, the ability to be an effective parent, and the needs of the child and the specific terms of reference from the Family Court.

What will be assessed with the Family Court expert report?

We can assess the child (or children) to determine what their needs are developmentally, psychologically and cognitively to assess the type of parenting that is required. This information is corroborated in the developmental history, school and physician reports and through psychological testing.

We will also assess the effectiveness of the parenting for the child. We examine a parent’s capacity to provide empathy, structure, love and set limits on behaviour and have flexibility and good impulse control.

Once we have investigated the parent attributes, parenting capacity, the needs of the child and the terms of reference for the Family Court we will provide an opinion on what is in the best interest of the child in terms of residency and contact arrangements which will form the basis of the parenting plan.

The family court expert report will assess:

• The parenting arrangement
• Parenting capacity
• How your child is coping
• Your child/ren’s relationship with significant others
• Risk to the children
• Your child’s views/wishes

Fees for Psychological Assessments for Family Court

Consultation and discussion about Family Court situations are charged at a legal rate of $230 per hour and GST applies if this is not related to therapy (face to face consultations are 50 minutes in duration).

The Psychologist will conduct a series of interviews over a few days and will meet with you, your ex partner and your child/ren and other relevant people such as siblings, partners or grandparents.

Assessments for the Family Court are generally charged an hourly rate, an estimation of the report costs can be provided verbally over the phone and a more detailed estimate is provided after the initial assessment has been completed.

The recommended fee for attendance at court is costed by the APS at 1.5 times the scheduled fee.

Please note that legal assessments attract GST charges as only treatment is GST exempt.

We require that you provide instructions from your solicitor or a Court ordered single expert witness appointment.