ASSESSMENTS FOR POSTSEPARATION PARENTING DISPUTES IN CANADA |
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| Authors: | Nicholas Bala |
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| Institution: | Nicholas Baluhus been a professor at the Faculty of Law at Queen's University since 1980 and has been a visiting professor at Duke, McGill, and the University of Calgary. Professor Bala's primary area of teaching and research interest is Family and Children's Law, focusing on such issues as juvenile justice, child abuse and child witnesses, domestic violence, parental rights and responsibilities after divorce, spousal support obligations, and the legal definition of the family. |
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| Abstract: | There is controversy in Canada about the use of assessments by mental health professionals to assist in the resolution of postseparation disputes between parents about their children. Although the principles developed by the Supreme Court of Canada to govern the admission of expert evidence in criminal law cases provides guidance for judges in family law cases, in deciding whether to order an assessment or admit expert evidence, family law judges must also take account of the child-related context. Mental health professionals can provide valuable information that would otherwise be unavailable when making prospective decisions about children. Court-appointed assessors also have a significant institutional role in the family law cases that has no equivalent in the criminal law context. Assessors are important not only for the relatively rare cases that go to trial, but they also play a central role in helping to resolve the much larger number of cases that are settled. |
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| Keywords: | family law evaluations children of divorce |
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