Perlmutter update

I filed a new motion to the court a couple of weeks ago, and now I have updated it regarding the psychologist's refusal to update his evaluation:

Brief and declaration in support for OSC for custody and visitation

This brief updates my OSC for more favorable child custody and visitation of our two kids. An attached declaration adds some supporting facts.

The Court has accepted the May 2010 Ken Perlmutter recommendations for the ensuing 6-9 months. After that period expired, the Court notified him that it was necessary “for an Updated Child Custody Evaluation to be completed by Dr. Perlmutter”, and that there could be no further action “until the update has been completed.” He has written a letter (attached) to the court saying that he “would not do an Update”, and refusing to do any more work on the case. Moreover, he says that his neutrality and objectivity were compromised in June 2010. The California Board of Psychology is currently investigating his unethical behavior in this case.

I have completed all of Perlmutter’s recommendations, and he expressed no opinion on what to do now. He testified that AngryMom is no better parent than I am, and that there is no threat of any form of abuse. Other psychologists gave uncontradicted testimony that there was never any emotional abuse, according to the applicable standards, even if all of the accused acts were true. Perlmutter’s report said, “A key and incontrovertible finding in this evaluation is that these children love and want a relationship with their father.” [p.38]

AngryMom and I had a final judicial determination of 50-50 joint legal and physical custody in 2005, and no witness has recommended changing that. We have been operating under temporary orders since Nov. 2007.

AngryMom has cut off all visits with our kids. My last visit was March 6. We were supposed to have a visit on April 10, and then April 16 and 24, but AngryMom ignored communications on the subject. We were supposed to have another one on May 14, but the supervisor backed out when AngryMom again did not respond to emails. ...

This Court has unnecessarily and inexplicably chosen to interject itself into the rearing of our two kids. In the opinion of Perlmutter, and every other witness, this intervention has been almost entirely destructive. After seven years of litigation, a dozen evaluations, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, this Court is no closer to resolving the issues. There is no witness who even suggests any plan or arrangement that is better than the 50-50 joint custody we had back in 2003.

The effect of this Court’s ruling is to string this case along until our kids are age 18, by ordering more and more evaluations and reciting anecdotes about an alarm clock and other trivial matters from many years ago. But there is no witness who has ever testified that any of those anecdotes should have any bearing on our custody situation.

This Court is forcing my kids to grow up without a father. Someday I will have to tell them why. They will ask what I did wrong, and what the Court wanted me to do. They will want to know why their college tuition fund was spent on court psychologists. The Court only says that I am “physically incapable” of understanding, and that maybe I have a personality disorder that none of the six psychological evaluations were able to detect. I am asking this Court to let me return to joint custody, or to explain how it is going to continue intervening in the upbringing of our children.

If I were truly a bad parent, the court could just declare me unfit or give my ex-wife permanent custody. If I had some bad habits, such as drug use or losing my temper, then the court could require me to correct the problem. But it does none of those things. It just keeps issuing temporary orders, and it may continue doing that until my kids are age 18.