The Connecticut Supreme Court recently decided in Barros v. Barros that it is not a violation of a parent's due process rights to exclude that parent's lawyer from a court-ordered Family Relations evaluation.
While this result is undoubtedly disappointing to the appellant who wanted his lawyer to attend meetings and interviews with the evaluator, it is certainly not surprising. After all, Family Relations has followed this same protocol for more than 30 years. Moreover, as the Supreme Court noted there are significant procedural safeguards in place to protect the due process rights of such parties. These include the right to prepare with counsel for evaluation meetings in advance and the right to cross-examine the author of the report at trial. Further, as the Court noted, the trial court is not bound to accept a Family Relations report and recommendation.
