Psychologist testimony

Psychologist Ken Perlmutter did a child custody evaluation for the court in my case, and here is how his court testimony began last month:

AngryDad: Okay. Mr. Perlmutter, were you paid $28,000 for your
work in this case?

Permutter: That's an approximate total. Would you like an exact
total?

AngryDad: No. That's good enough.
Until the accusations that resulted in your
appointment, [AngryMom] and I shared 50/50 joint custody --

Permutter: Could I go back one second? There might be a
significant error there. You said that I charged $28,000?

AngryDad: I said you were paid about $28,000 for your work in
this case.

Permutter: That's incorrect.

AngryDad: Okay. How much were you paid?

Permutter: As you know, you were responsible for advancing the
fees for the evaluation. And during the course of the
evaluation you made three payments. The first was for
$6,000. The second was for $6,000. The third was for
$7,350. The total is $19,350.

AngryDad: And how much initial money have you been paid --

Permutter: It's a total --

AngryDad: -- since then?

Permutter: From you?

AngryDad: No. How much have you been paid?

Permutter: I've been paid the fees from [AngryMom] for my appearance
at court last time and today. As you also know, you
refused to pay my deposition at my deposition. And I
believe the Court made an order that [AngryMom] was to pay
that. So that was another thing that [AngryMom] paid. I can
tell you --

AngryDad: Excuse me. I'm asking you what you know. Do you
know how much money you were paid?

Permutter: I'm going to tell you the additional payments that
you made in your case.
Since your initial completion of the evaluation --

Permutter: I apologize, your Honor. I did
not add these up in advance.

THE COURT: That's fine.

Permutter: So since the release of the
report, I have -- and the three payments that I noted that
you made, I have received three payments from [AngryMom]. One
was for $1,800. The other was for $4,500. And the other
was for $2,250. And a quick total of that is $8,550.

AngryDad: So total amount you were paid was about $28,000?

Permutter: If you would like me to add those up, then I will.
The total that I get is $27,900.

AngryDad: Thank you.
Until the accusations that resulted in your
appointment, [AngryMom] and I shared 50/50 joint custody. Is
that correct?

AngryMom: Objection; he's -- I just take
note that he's assuming -- he's stating -- "the accusation
that resulted in your appointment" is not an accurate
description of the history of the case. And so, I object
to the form of the question. He's assuming -- it's
argumentative.

AngryDad: I'm asking if it's a correct
statement. If it's not correct, you can say it's not
correct.

THE COURT: Overruled. You may answer.

Permutter: I don't know the answer to that
question. I talk about the questions that I had about my
understanding of the record in the report. And I
understand your theory that up until the time that the
recommended order that I made was signed into an order by
Commissioner Joseph, I understand that you believed that
you had joint legal and physical custody. And I certainly
understand why you think that's the case. And I know that
I'm not competent to make the decision about the reality
of that.

Is this pathetic or not? He took $28k for the case, but is confused about the amount. When asked the simplest question about our custody situation, he starts pleading incompetence. If you were doing a $28k child custody evaluation, I would expect you to first determine the current custody determination, and to be able to testify about it.

If he does not understand the simplest things about the case history, how could his recommendations possibly have any merit?