Rating the psychologist evaluator

The Yelp reviews of Kenneth B. Perlmutter are terrible. He has the lowest possible rating, one star. What I did not notice at first is that there are a bunch of other one-star ratings that do not show because they have been filtered or removed. There are no ratings higher than one star. Here are the filtered ratings.

Alyssa C. writes:

I can't really give away any personal information about myself, but I am a teenager and I can say this: Dr. Perlmutter ruined my life. When I was in first grade, Dr. Perlmutter made a recommendation to the court that it was in my best interests to switch custody to my father. I had been living with my mother since birth. Today, I live with my father and am currently dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, and trauma, on top of being a teenager and all the troubles that come with that. My mom isn't a bad person; she doesn't do drugs, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't have a criminal record, never abandoned or abused her kids, physically or emotionally, and is a wonderful and loving mother. My father, on the other hand, I can't say is even close to this. He is in-compassionate, has no love for children or women, freely insults people, is hypocritical, and criticizes those less fortunate than him. He is also an alcoholic and frequents the bars, has been arrested, and is currently cheating on his wife. And it disgusts me. Might I add my mother Asian, and my father White.
This is my world, my living hell, and it's all thanks to Dr. Perlmutter. His words alone gave me this burden. If you actually love your children, unlike my father, and don't want them to face depression and lose their path in life, like I did, then don't go to Dr. Perlmutter. If someone refers you to him, stop and think about your child. If you don't care about your child, and only seek a diagnosis based on sexist and racial biase, go ahead and go to Dr. Perlmutter. And believe me, I am doing this of my own free will. I just hope to save other kids from this terrible nightmare, and to give them a chance to love and be loved.

Martin B. writes:

I agree with the other reviews posted. He is manipulative and power hungry. He does not consider children at all, intimidating them throughout "his process." He has absolutely no understanding of the affects alcoholism has on a family (shameful for a psychologist!), and minimizes the damage done by a parent out of control abusing alcohol and drugs. To say he needs education on the subject is an understatement. His poorly written, contradictory report included mistakes, inaccuracies, and downright lies that he drummed up to meet his very subjective "objective." He is in this to churn fees.

and this:

Agreed. Probably the most unethical person I have encountered through the whole divorce procedure. His report was a form letter which arrived months late and was thousands over budget. His recommendation referred us to his co-worker "Dr Sullivan". Dr Sullivan milked the case for a year, tried to get his wife on the payroll, then referred us back to Perl for another evaluation! By then the wonky tower of arrogance had already collected money from the ex for "independent psychotherapy". The really sad part is how they hurt the children. If you're just getting started, go somewhere else. If the same thing happened to you and you're interested in pursuing licensing complaints against Dr. S or Dr P, please call me at 650 305-0113.

and this:

This man is incredibly unprofessional and rude. We ended up with an inaccurate report that was thousands of dollars over budget and months late. In comparing the "evaluation" with others from his office, similarities were obvious. Perlmutter sold us a form letter. The good doctor ordered forced psychotherapy and "treatment" from his associate, Dr. Sullivan. Dr. Sullian then milked us for thousands more before recommending we go back to Perlmutter for another round. By that time, Perlmutter had violated professional ethics by "performing individual psychotherapy" and starting a second evaluation without a signed agreement. The court then discarded Perlmutter's recommendation and started fresh. I wish I could say we were only robbed of cash. Perlmutter's greed and sloppy work really hurt our children.

There is some good news: There are intelligent, professional evaluators in the valley. Michael Kerner is one.

My advice: Shop around for someone other than Perlmutter. Children go through enough grief in a divorce. Don't let this man hurt your children.

Melanie J. writes:

Dr. Perlmutter should be avoided at all costs to you and your children!

My youngest child will turn 18 this week so now I'll finally be free of his complete lack of compassion and professional ability to help families in crisis heal.

My husband wanted out of the marriage, we developed a parenting plan that we both agreed to and were sent to Dr. Perlmutter to mediate some of the few points we had not yet resolved.

We didn't hate each other upon entering his office, but we certainly left his office with a new loathing for each other. His questioning of how we had come to our agreement proved that he was committed to having us accept HIS very unreasonable and unworkable policies for our children, who were only 3 and 5 years old at the time.

Here is just one example -- as parents we agreed to dividing Christmas like this: one year I would have the children through Christmas Eve until 8 PM, I'd then take them to their father's house, and he'd have them through New Year's Eve. The next year we would reverse this schedule.

Dr. Perlmutter wouldn't have it. He insisted that we exchange the children at noon on Christmas. What did this accomplish? That every Christmas the kids woke up in one parent's home, we had to rush to open presents and eat our holiday meal, then pack them up and drive to the other parent's home who then had to re-create Christmas that afternoon at their home.

I'm a religious person. I wanted to attend services on Christmas Eve with my children after we had opened presents every other year. Their dad had agreed, but not Dr. Perlmutter. Why on earth would he object to what we had already agreed to and thought was best for our children?

This is just one of dozens of ways in which he fanned the flames of discord in our divorce and parenting plan.

And if I ever meet him in person again I will tell him to his face that I've never met a less compassionate person! He is paid to allegedly ensure that children's interests come first, rather he is allowed a forum for infinite malice and for bloating his own ego.

Beg your attorneys to never send you or your worst enemy to Ken Perlmutter in Palo Alto!

Elizabeth F. writes:

This man is dangerous! Please beware! He has built himself up to be the "authority" of custody evaluations, and has deceived many people into thinking that he is THE custody evaluator. I would agree that he is biased, and more than arrogant! He is supposed to be a psychologist, but spends most of his time ruining families! Find someone else to do your evaluation.... PLEASE! Better yet... find another alternative to courts, evaluations, and all of that and work this out on your own. These people don't give a damn about you or your family -- they all want a "piece of the pie."

I added my own:

Ken Perlmutter is a horrible child custody evaluator. He charged me $20,000 to do an evaluation, and he recommended that my ex-wife get sole legal and physical custody and that I be reduced to two hours of supervised visitation per month. This was after four years of successful joint custody in which there was not a single allegation of abuse, neglect, domestic violence, drug use, harm to the kids, or anything like that. His main explanation was that my ex-wife had brought unfounded charges of emotional abuse, and he thought that our kids might be upset if I told them the truth. For more info, google his name with "angry dad".

Wow. This guy is a menace. His court testimony should be public so everyone can see how bad he is.