Here's my summary finally!
Order Appointing Child Custody Evaluator Summary
At the last hearing, the Judge ordered that Dr. Dupee be appointed as child custody evaluator. However, the physical mechanics of getting Dr. Dupee appointed require that all the parties consent to Dr. Dupee’s policies and procedures, and Judge Josh signing the court order. Judge Josh asked Anne Kiley to prepare the necessary documents, and this latest court filing is what Anne Kiley prepared. The only thing left to do is for Judge Josh to sign it. (This will be uploaded to the court’s website once signed; I don’t recommend spending money to download it again since the filing will be identical except for Judge Josh’s signature.)
As an aside, it looks like Dr. Dupee pronounces her last name the French way, so her last name is pronounced “Du-PAY.”
Anyway, there are two parts to the court order: the court form at the beginning plus the stipulation among the parties consenting to Dr. Dupee’s appointment as child custody evaluator. Note that the consents are a foregone conclusion since Judge Josh already ordered Dr. Dupee’s appointment at the last hearing (the ex parte hearing on August 17). In other words, everyone had to consent otherwise they would have been compelled to consent.
The court form at the beginning of the order is a standard form with checkboxes, so what it says is that Dr. Dupee, a private child custody evaluator, is appointed to do a full child custody evaluation. Judge Josh has the legal authority to do this under Family Code Section 3111 (power to appoint a child custody evaluator) and Evidence Code Section 730 (power to appoint an expert who will investigate, render a report to the judge, and testify at trial). Happily, this document uses the children’s full legal names and does not omit their legal last name.
The remainder of the form is mostly blank because the issues are too voluminous to type in the limited space available on the form, so there is an attachment to the form, as indicated on page 1.
Within 10 days of receipt of the signed court order, Dr. Dupee must file her qualifications with the court.
There are additional court orders attached in one long stipulation/order attachment, which we will see in a moment. Per California court rules, a proper court order with attachments is signed by the judge on the last page, so that no one can secretly add a page to the court order.
The Stipulation and Order attachment gives us a good sense of what Dr. Dupee is being hired to do, and what her powers and responsibilities are during the child custody evaluation. (A stipulation is a document where all parties agree to something, and it is often filed in court attached to an order for the judge to sign, in order to “make it so.”)
The stipulation states that Dr. Dupee is appointed to conduct a private child custody evaluation “to determine the legal and physical custody” of the children and to give the judge “recommendations that are in the best interests of the minor children.”
Both of the attorneys (Anne Kiley and Bernal Ojeda) may have a joint conference call with Dr. Dupee to fill her in on the issues, as well as provide her with the parties’ contact information and the date of trial. No attorney can contact Dr. Dupee separately—they must both speak to her together. Mr. Langlois is not involved in this aspect of the case because he is handling the financial issues, not the custody issues, for Ioan.
This attachment orders Alice and Ioan to “fully cooperate with Dr. Dupee’s evaluation.” The evaluation may include interviews with Alice, Ioan, and the children; home visits; review of records (including medical, school, or court records), photographs, and audio/video recordings. This tells me that Dr. Dupee will likely be shown the video where Ella was upset that Alice did not stop drinking on her birthday and in response Alice called Ella a “bitch” and told her that she and Elsie would be sent to Gloria’s for the week for not agreeing with her. Any other video or audio recording they have may be shown to Dr. Dupee if she wants to see it.
Dr. Dupee may consider information from “police records, DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) records, reports of teachers and doctors, other professionals’ reports, and “other collateral reports” (a catchall provision). Dr. Dupee will have access to health, mental health, education, and employment records (for the parents AND the children), as well as the power to confer with doctors, therapists, teachers and any other person. Each party waives all privileges to any records except the attorney-client privilege (no right to confidential communications between a client and the client’s attorney) and the attorney work product privilege (no right to see internal documents an attorney prepares in the course of representing someone). The GAL waives the privileges for the children, NOT the parents, so Alice can’t refuse to waive them. Each party can also request that Dr. Dupee interview other household or family members (such as Bianca or Gloria). Any records that a party wants Dr. Dupee to view must be provided to that party’s attorney, who will copy it to the opposing attorney and to Dr. Dupee. Dr. Dupee has the choice to view, or not view, any records she believes are relevant.
Both Alice and Ioan will undergo limited psychological testing which will be performed by a licensed psychologist for an additional fee. Dr. Dupee can request further psychological testing on the parties if she feels it is warranted.
Oh hey, there’s our Sanchez waiver again, making an appearance. Because both sides waived the ruling in the Sanchez case, Dr. Dupee’s confidential report may be entered into evidence even though she may rely on “hearsay evidence” to prepare the report. Dr. Dupee may be cross-examined at trial, however. Dr. Dupee’s report is strictly confidential and will be sealed; no one except the attorneys and the judge may see it, absent a court order; however, a copy of the report may be provided to any therapist working with the children or the parents, and the contents of the report may be discussed in front of court staff during any hearing, trial, or deposition.
There are several paragraphs on Dr. Dupee’s fee, which I won’t really summarize in great detail; she has a retainer of $7,500 and an hourly fee of $475, plus an administrative fee of $1,000. Her fee for court testimony is $5,000 per day or $2,750 per half day. Note that if a party doesn’t cooperate to pay Dr. Dupee, the other party can advance her fee and the other party must immediately cooperate to reimburse that party from the blocked account.
After Dr. Dupee receives the initial retainer of $7,500 and the signed stipulation, she will book evaluation appointments with Alice and Ioan. During the first evaluation appointment, both Alice and Ioan will be asked to sign an Informed Consent regarding the evaluation procedures, which will have been provided to them and their attorneys in advance. This is just an additional consent to Dr. Dupee’s procedures.
Both Alice and Ioan will fill out Child Custody Evaluation Questionnaires for Dr. Dupee. An example of a Child Custody Evaluation Questionnaire was posted by someone earlier in the thread, if you’d like to see an example.
Dr. Dupee will be sent all court orders and children’s school records, as well as police reports and psychiatric hospitalization records pertinent to custody. However, Dr. Dupee will not intervene in any issues other than to report suspected child abuse or warn a potential victim of danger. If everyone agrees, psychotherapists may be used for urgent problems which occur during the evaluation. If there are domestic violence issues or child abuse issues, full disclosure of all allegations must be made to Dr. Dupee. (So she will be made aware of the Domestic Violence Restraining Order against Alice.) Dr. Dupee’s file may not be made available to anyone other than the lawyers, the judge, or therapists, absent a subpoena or court order.
Dr. Dupee is acting in a quasi-judicial capacity and thus may not be sued in relation to the child custody evaluation (she is immune to lawsuits). The stipulation also releases Dr. Dupee from any liability relating to the evaluation, and the other professionals with whom Dr. Dupee consults are also immune to lawsuits relating to the evaluation.
Happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
Edit: here's a PDF version:
