We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The admissibility and persuasiveness of expert evidence.
- Authors
Altobelli, Thomas; Smith, Bruce Gordon
- Abstract
Parenting plan evaluators are expert witnesses who offer their opinion. Courts in common law jurisdictions generally do not accept evidence of an opinion as it is not considered to be reliable evidence from which to establish a fact. An exception to that general principle is expert opinion evidence. In short, an opinion from a person with specialized knowledge or expertise about the area in which they are an expert may be sufficiently reliable to form an evidentiary basis from which to make a finding of fact, provided the opinion meets certain criteria. These criteria will be discussed in this article, as well as what is relevant, reliable and persuasive evidence. The relevant legal principles will be examined in an historical and contemporary, theoretical and practical context. The authors reflect on their considerable experience as consumers of expert evidence and apply this to parenting plan evaluations, as well as considering future challenges in the field. Key points for the family court community: As a parenting plan evaluator you need a basic understanding of the rules of evidence to write an admissible report.If your parenting plan evaluation is written with these rules in mind it is more likely to be persuasive to a Court.When you understand the purpose of the rules it is easier to follow them and to write better reports.There are some rules which are specific to each jurisdiction and you should always ask for guidance, especially when starting out.There are many future challenges confronting parenting plan evaluators and the Courts in relation to parenting plan evaluations.
- Subjects
ADMISSIBLE evidence; PARENTING; COMMON law; JURISDICTION; JUVENILE courts
- Publication
Family Court Review, 2023, Vol 61, Issue 4, p832
- ISSN
1531-2445
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/fcre.12748