Macci and Kates Florida family Law Appeals -- all Florida courts

The Law Offices of
LISA MARIE MACCI, P.A.

Suite 324 Atrium
2255 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL 33431
561-252-8528
The Law Offices of
ELIZABETH J. KATES, ESQ.

4411 NW 10th Street
(Coconut Creek)
Pompano Beach, FL 33066
954-979-8783

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LEGAL RESOURCES
Collaborative law information and research
Law Offices of Elizabeth J. Kates, Pompano Beach, Florida




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ARTICLES,RESEARCH-GENERAL
ARTICLES, RESEARCH-FAMILY LAW


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Lisa Macci's Justice Hour Radio Show

Re-EVALUATING THE EVALUATORS: "...No research exists which shows that custody recommendations made by MHPs result in better child outcomes. See Shuman, What Should We Permit Mental Health Professionals to Say About "The Best Interests of the Child"?, infra, note 129.
        And see
generally, Peter Ash, et al., Relitigation after contested custody and visitation evaluations, 14 Bull. Am. Acad. Psych. & L. 323 (1986), and Janet R. Johnston, Developing and testing group interventions for families at impasse. Final Report submitted to the Statewide Office of Family Court Services, Administrative Office of the Courts, Judicial Council of the State of California, San Francisco (1999). Studies indicate that parents who are subjected to the forced and artificial arrangement of their families by third party evaluators have two to two and a half times the rate of relitigation of parents who do not undergo the custody evaluation process. The direction of "causation" is unclear -- more litigious parties may skew the group of those who end up with third party evaluators -- but what is fairly clear is that the most benign characterization of the findings is that the MHPs aren't helping cut down on the relitigation rate.
        While a number of researchers purport to have found relitigation rates lower following mediated decisions, or (primarily in early studies) in joint custody arrangements, not one of these studies appears to have corrected for (in the first case) the reality that negotiated agreements are not as legally amenable to modification as court orders, or (in both cases) that couples who achieved accord in mediation, as well as those who voluntarily chose early joint custody arrangements were already relatively more amicable couples. An example of an "earlier" study would be the master's-level research often cited in father's rights papers, Shanon J. Alexander, Protecting the Child's Rights in Custody Cases, F.S.U. Fam. Coordinator (October 1977) ("better results for joint custody than sole custody... relitigation rate for joint custody was half that for sole custody (16% vs. 32%).") ..." Read more at Re-evaluating the Evaluators


Also see articles on Therapeutic Jurisprudence at thelizlibrary.org

Divorce Law Information

Collaborative Law versus Litigation

Custody Evaluations

Parenting Coordination


PARENTING COORDINATION: "The parenting coordinator concept encroaches on family liberty interests, bringing the government behind the closed doors of people's lives, injecting into the private realm a third party who is not in any way more capable than either of the parents are to make day-to-day decisions about their own families, values, and goals. Parenting coordination is a made-up, make-work field... There are no studies indicating that parenting coordinators make good decisions, improve the lives of children or parents, or improve child wellbeing. And, there is no reason to believe they would...
       In the inane insistence that "both" parents "participate" in making decisions regarding the child, in order to avoid stalemate, parenting coordination is the tool for unworkable custody and timeshare arrangements, notably joint custody, which removes from BOTH parents the right to function with authority and automony. A big flaw in the concept of joint custody is that, instead of having at least one functional parent, the joint custody child now has two ineffective half-parents who may not function except in tandem, and ironically they are typically the kind of parents least able to pull this off. With a parenting coordinator or guardian ad litem added into the mix, the child does not even have that, because instead of two half-parents sharing an undivided fundamental parental liberty interest, the child has half-parents who report to a parenting boss. It's involvement by the state in the complete absence of any actual threat to the child that ordinarily would justify state intrusion like this.
       One should counter: if a third party stranger, based upon no established field of expertise whatsoever, is supposedly qualified to make and facilitate decisions impacting other people's family lives, something that is not even usually encouraged in clinical therapy, then why is not the better solution just to assign that authority to one of the parents? The spheres of decision-making authority can be allocated too. It would be easier, cheaper, quicker, and done. And at least then the child would have one real and functional authoritative parent, something that IS demonstrably evidenced in the research to be necessary for child security and well-being. While the rhetoric is rampant that parents are less likely or unlikely to consider their children before themselves in their decision-making when they are embattled in divorce and post-divorce issues, no research actually substantiates this concocted rationale.... Read more at Parenting Coordination Issues


Why forensic evaluators should turn over everything in discovery
The MMPI-2 in Child Custody Evaluations: Can't Say
Martha Jacobson, Broward County, South Florida Parenting Evaluations
The Rorschach Test and Other Projectives
Are Psychologists Hiding a Lack of Expertise?
When You Should Just Walk Out.
Corrupt evaluator, abusive psych, sharp judge

Civium in moribus rei publicae salus
...will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do

Parental Alienation


Parenting Evaluation (Custody Evaluator) Issues
Collaborative Family Law
Child-Centered Divorce


Parenting Coordination Issues
Child Custody Evaluations Discovery Issues

therapeutic jurisprudence - custody evaluators - guardians ad litem


The Child-Centered Divorce Dealing with forensic psychologists and discovery of test data in court Family Court is Not a Family-Friendly Place Parenting Coordination

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TRISH WILSON'S ARTICLES ON THIS WEBSITE
and documents on the Father's Rights Movement


Collaborative law information and research
Law Offices of Elizabeth J. Kates, Pompano Beach, Florida

CHILD CUSTODY: BREAKING THE SILENCE: CHILDREN'S STORIES
Abused Children and Mothers Speak - Fathers' Rights Activists Attack

CHILD CUSTODY: CALIFORNIA NOW FAMILY COURT REPORT 2002
versus Glenn Sacks: Trish WIlson commentary

CHILD CUSTODY: FRIENDLY PARENT PROVISIONS
Other-Than-Gardner Versions of "Parental Alienation Syndrome"
(more) Wilson's testimony against Washington State friendly parent proposal

CHILD CUSTODY: IMPACT OF THE CUSTODY PLAN ON THE FAMILY
Parental Dissatisfaction with Joint Custody

CHILD CUSTODY: JOINT CUSTODY NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF CHILDREN
Research Contradicts Claims of Fathers' Rights Groups
(Also see
LIZNOTES on Joint Custody Research)
(Also see
LIZNOTES Myths and Facts About Fatherhood)

CHILD CUSTODY: THE TRUTH ABOUT JOINT CUSTODY
Don't Call it "Shared Parenting"

CHILD CUSTODY TIMESHARE: SANFORD BRAVER AND MOVEAWAYS
Relocation of Children after Divorce, misrepresented research.
Includes information and commentary about Robert Bauserman's "joint custody research".
(Also see
LIZNOTES on the Bauserman study.)

CUSTODY RESEARCH: PAUL AMATO
(Also see
LIZNOTES Myths and Facts About Fatherhood)

CUSTODY RESEARCH: ELEANOR MACCOBY
(Also see
LIZNOTES on Joint Custody Research)

FATHERHOOD RESEARCH: FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE
Not as Common as the Father's Rights and False Allegations Groups Want the Public to Think

FATHERLESS RESEARCH: DECONSTRUCTING FATHERHOOD PROPAGANDA
Comments on "Deconstructing the Essential Father" by Louise B. Silverstein and Carl F. Auerbach

FATHERHOOD RESEARCH: FATHERLESSNESS
Excerpts from Michael E. Lamb's "The Role of the Father"
(Also see
LIZNOTES Myths and Facts About Fatherhood)
(Also see
LIZNOTES on Lamb and Kelly's Infant Custody Ideas)
(Also see
FATHERLESS CHILDREN STORIES)

FATHERS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT: THE CHILD CUSTODY WAR
A War Against Women (backlash against women's rights gains)

FATHERS RIGHTS INFILTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
American Fathers Coalition (AFC)

FATHERS RIGHTS INFILTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Children's Rights Council (CRC)

FATHERS RIGHTS INFILTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Fathers' Rights and Equality Exchange (F.R.E.E.), Brent Wellman, Anne P. Mitchell

FATHERS RIGHTS INFILTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Institute for American Values, David Blankenhorn

FATHERS RIGHTS INFILTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Joint Custody Association, Jim Cook

FATHERS RIGHTS INFILTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Association for Fathers and Children (NCFC)

FATHERS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT: IT'S "THE USUAL SUSPECTS"
American Fathers' Coalition (AFC), American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC), Coalition of Parental Support (COPS), Fathers' Manifesto.

FATHERS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT: ROBERT HIRSCHFELD DISBARRED
Robert Hirschfeld (of the National Association for Fathers and Children, NCFC)

FATHERS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT: MURRAY STEINBERG JAILED
(Father's Manifesto signer), husband of custody evaluator Barbara Steinberg

FATHERS' RIGHTSTERS CAMPAIGN AGAINST WILSON ARTICLES
American Father's Coalition (AFC) and Dave Usher
(The AFC is the precursor organization to ACFC, The American Coalition of Fathers and Children)
(more) Father's Rights Trolling -- Business as Usual by Trish Wilson

WARREN FARRELL: TRISH WILSON RESPONDS
(Also see
LIZNOTES on Warren Farrell)

Child Custody Evaluators, Child Custody Evaluations: No Science and a Denigration of Due Process.  
Reevaluating the Evaluators
Parenting Coordination, a bad idea
Psychology in the family courts: therapeutic jurisprudence is bad science and a denigration of due process
Child Custody Evaluation - Dealing with child custody evaluators' refusal to comply with discovery in court


© 2016. Lisa Marie Macci, P.A. and Elizabeth J. Kates, Esq.

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