Everyone has differing opinions about parenting consultants. Even family law attorneys have differing opinions on this topic! In this article, we are going to discuss some of the pros and cons of appointing a parenting consultant in your family law case.
What You Need to Know About Parenting Consultants
To help you decide whether it would be beneficial to appoint a parenting consultant in your family law case, here is some information about parenting consultants:
- A judge does not have the authority to appoint a parenting consultant; rather, such an appointment must be mutually agreed upon by both parties.
- The specific individual to be appointed and the term of their appointment is to be agreed upon by the parties.
- The issues that a parenting consultant is authorized to decide will be addressed by the parenting consultant, not the court.
- A parenting consultant has the ability to enforce, clarify or modify terms of a court order and their decision is binding unless appealed as if it were a court order.
- A parenting consultant can make decisions that are individually tailored to your case.
- A parenting consultant can make decisions as quickly as the same day a request is made, if necessary.
- A parenting consultant can speak with collaterals (i.e. therapists, teachers, parenting coaches, friends, family members, etc.), review documents (i.e. medical records, therapy records, school records, police reports, communications between parties, etc.) and require evaluations be completed by one or both parties to assist them in making a fully-informed decision on your case.
- A parenting consultant typically requires an initial retainer upfront and works on an hourly basis.
Contact a Minnesota Family Lawyer
If you are interested in learning more about this, feel free to contact one of our family law attorneys who would be happy to discuss this further with you.
