Amended in Assembly June 11, 2015

Amended in Senate May 13, 2015

Amended in Senate April 27, 2015

Amended in Senate April 13, 2015

Senate BillNo. 594


Introduced by Senator Wieckowski

February 27, 2015


An act to amend Section 3111 of the Family Code, relating to child custody.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 594, as amended, Wieckowski. Child custody.

Existing law allows a court, in any contested hearing involving child custody or visitation rights, to appoint a child custody evaluator, as specified. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt standards for the child custody evaluation.

This bill would specify that a child custody evaluation, investigation, or assessment, and anybegin delete report conducted pursuant to that determination,end deletebegin insert resulting report,end insert may only be considered by the court if the evaluation, investigation, orbegin delete assessmentend deletebegin insert assessment, and any resulting report,end insert is conducted in accordance with the minimum requirements.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P1    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 3111 of the Family Code is amended to
2read:

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3111.  

(a) begin delete(1)end deletebegin deleteend deleteIn any contested proceeding involving child
2custody or visitation rights, the court may appoint a child custody
3evaluator to conduct a child custody evaluation in cases where the
4court determines it is in the best interests of the child. The child
5custody evaluation shall be conducted in accordance with the
6standards adopted by the Judicial Council pursuant to Section
73117, and all other standards adopted by the Judicial Council
8regarding child custody evaluations. If directed by the court, the
9court-appointed child custody evaluator shall file a written
10confidential report on his or her evaluation. At least 10 days before
11any hearing regarding custody of the child, the report shall be filed
12with the clerk of the court in which the custody hearing will be
13conducted and served on the parties or their attorneys, and any
14other counsel appointed for the child pursuant to Section 3150. A
15child custody evaluation, investigation, or assessment, and any
16resultingbegin delete reportend deletebegin insert report,end insert may be considered by the court only if it
17is conducted in accordance with thebegin delete minimumend delete requirements set
18forth in the standards adopted by the Judicial Council pursuant to
19Sectionbegin delete 3117.end deletebegin insert 3117; however, this does not preclude the
20consideration of a child custody evaluation report that contains
21nonsubstantive or inconsequential errors or both.end insert

begin delete

22(2) This subdivision does not preclude the consideration of a
23child custody evaluation report that contains harmless procedural
24errors, technical errors, or both.

end delete

25(b) The report shall not be made available other than as provided
26in subdivision (a) or Section 3025.5, or as described in Section
27204 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or Section 1514.5 of the
28Probate Code. Any information obtained from access to a juvenile
29court case file, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 827 of the
30 Welfare and Institutions Code, is confidential and shall only be
31disseminated as provided by paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of
32Section 827 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

33(c) The report may be received in evidence on stipulation of all
34interested parties and is competent evidence as to all matters
35contained in the report.

36(d) If the court determines that an unwarranted disclosure of a
37written confidential report has been made, the court may impose
38a monetary sanction against the disclosing party. The sanction
39shall be in an amount sufficient to deter repetition of the conduct,
40and may include reasonable attorney’s fees, costs incurred, or both,
P3    1unless the court finds that the disclosing party acted with substantial
2justification or that other circumstances make the imposition of
3the sanction unjust. The court shall not impose a sanction pursuant
4to this subdivision that imposes an unreasonable financial burden
5on the party against whom the sanction is imposed. This
6subdivision shall become operative on January 1, 2010.

7(e) The Judicial Council shall, by January 1, 2010, do the
8following:

9(1) Adopt a form to be served with every child custody
10evaluation report that informs the report recipient of the
11confidentiality of the report and the potential consequences for the
12unwarranted disclosure of the report.

13(2) Adopt a rule of court to require that, when a court-ordered
14child custody evaluation report is served on the parties, the form
15specified in paragraph (1) shall be included with the report.

16(f) For purposes of this section, a disclosure is unwarranted if
17it is done either recklessly or maliciously, and is not in the best
18interests of the child.



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