Child custody work presents vexing issues of children’s and parents’ privileges, work product, privacy, and confidentiality rights. What do parent’s lawyers, minors’ counsel, mediators, parent coordinators, therapists and judges need to know? The recent decision in Marriage of Anka and Yeager has greatly expanded the scope of evaluation confidentiality, and created a need for carefully drafted “good cause” and protective orders to protect professionals from sanctions and professional discipline, while keeping confidential evaluation information from exposure outside the case. Learn to navigate the governing provisions of the California Constitution, Family Code, Evidence Code, Health and Safety Code, Cal. Rules of Court, HIPAA, and precedent. Who has the right (and duty) to assert these interests? When and how are they waived by disclosure? What are the best practices for releases and consent forms, evaluator appointment orders, mediation agreements, orders for child or family counseling, and Anka orders?
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will be able to differentiate the overlapping doctrines of privilege, confidentiality and privacy.
- Participants will recognize the sources of law for the most common privilege, confidentiality and privacy interests they encounter in custody matters.
- Participants will be able to apply these doctrines from the roles of parent’s lawyer, children’s lawyer, treating therapist, mediator, parent coordinator, evaluator and judge.