When a judge orders a custody evaluation, the case quietly stops being about what each parent says and starts being about what one professional observes. That person will come into your home, interview your child, talk to your pediatrician and your ex-spouse’s sister, and produce a written report that most judges read closely. Understanding a Texas child custody evaluation before it starts is the difference between participating in it and being processed by it.
The 89th Texas Legislature also added a new qualification requirement for evaluators, effective September 1, 2025, that matters a great deal in cases involving children with disabilities. Our Montgomery County custody attorneys prepare clients for these evaluations regularly. Here is what the process involves and where it can go wrong.
What a Custody Evaluation Is
A custody evaluation is a court-ordered investigation, governed by Chapter 107 of the Texas Family Code, in which a qualified professional gathers information about a family and provides the court with findings regarding conservatorship, possession, and access.
The evaluator is not your advocate and not the other parent’s. The evaluator works for the court. Anything you say is reportable, and there is no confidentiality of the kind you would have with a therapist.
Evaluations are typically ordered when allegations are serious, when the parents’ accounts differ irreconcilably, when a child has significant special needs, or when the court simply cannot resolve competing narratives on the paper record.
Who Can Serve as an Evaluator
Section 107.104 sets minimum qualifications. An evaluator must generally hold a license as a social worker, professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, or psychologist, meet experience requirements in family evaluation work, and complete specified training.
House Bill 2340, effective September 1, 2025, added a requirement that deserves attention. An evaluator conducting an evaluation in a case involving a child with an intellectual or developmental disability must have completed at least three hours of training on caring for such children within the preceding two years. Without that training, the evaluation is inadmissible in those cases.
That is a real enforcement mechanism rather than an aspirational standard. If your child has an intellectual or developmental disability and an evaluation has been ordered, your attorney should confirm the evaluator’s training documentation before the process begins. Challenging admissibility after the report lands is far less effective than preventing an unqualified appointment.
What the Evaluator Actually Does
Section 107.109 sets out the required elements. A complete evaluation generally includes:
- A personal interview with each party seeking conservatorship or access
- An interview of the child, conducted in a developmentally appropriate manner
- Observation of the child with each party, usually in each home
- Observation of the child with any other person residing in the home
- Review of relevant records, including school, medical, mental health, and law enforcement records
- Collateral interviews with teachers, physicians, childcare providers, and others with relevant knowledge
- Criminal history and Department of Family and Protective Services record checks on adults in each household
Psychological testing may be included where the evaluator is licensed to administer it and the circumstances warrant. Not every evaluation includes testing, and the absence of testing is not a defect.
How long it takes and what it costs
Most evaluations run three to six months from appointment to report. Costs vary widely and are typically allocated between the parties by court order, sometimes equally and sometimes weighted toward the party who requested the evaluation. Expect a meaningful expense, and ask about it before agreeing to an evaluation you did not seek.
The Preparation Mistakes We See Most Often
In our experience, parents lose ground in evaluations for predictable reasons.
Overpreparing the home. A house that looks staged reads as staged. Evaluators visit hundreds of homes and notice when a child’s bedroom has no evidence a child uses it. Clean and safe is the standard, not photographed for listing.
Coaching the child. This is the most damaging error available. Children disclose coaching, often immediately and often without realizing they are doing it. An evaluator who concludes a parent scripted a child will weight everything that follows against that parent.
Running down the other parent. Evaluators specifically assess each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other. A parent who cannot name a single positive quality in the co-parent has answered a question they did not realize was being asked.
Withholding information that will surface anyway. The evaluator is running record checks. A prior arrest, a protective order, or a former DFPS referral will appear. Disclosing it yourself with context is far better than being confronted with it.
Treating collateral contacts as character witnesses. Offering a list of ten friends who will say you are wonderful is less useful than offering the pediatrician, the teacher, and the therapist who actually observe your child.
Being unavailable. Rescheduling appointments and delaying document production reads as avoidance, whatever the actual reason.
What Weight Does the Report Carry?
Considerable, but it is not binding. The evaluator’s report and testimony are evidence the judge weighs alongside everything else. Texas judges are not required to follow an evaluator’s recommendation, and they sometimes do not.
That said, a well-supported evaluation from a credible evaluator is difficult to overcome. The productive response to an unfavorable report is rarely an attack on the evaluator personally. It is a careful examination of methodology: which collateral sources were contacted and which were not, whether the required elements under Section 107.109 were completed, whether both homes received comparable observation time, and whether the conclusions follow from the data gathered.
Where the report reveals genuine methodological gaps, that becomes a real cross-examination. Where it does not, the better strategy is usually to address the concerns the evaluator identified rather than dispute that they exist.
Amicus Attorneys, Attorneys Ad Litem, and Guardians Ad Litem
Custody evaluations often run alongside an appointment under Chapter 107 Subchapter A. These roles are distinct and frequently confused.
An amicus attorney assists the court in determining the child’s best interest and is not the child’s lawyer. An attorney ad litem represents the child and owes the child the duties of an attorney to a client, including advocating the child’s expressed objectives. A guardian ad litem represents the child’s best interest but is not necessarily an attorney.
House Bill 2530, also effective September 1, 2025, refined the provisions governing these special appointments in suits affecting the parent-child relationship. Knowing which role has been appointed in your case determines what that person is permitted to do and how you should communicate with them.
Montgomery County Practice
Family cases here are heard in the district courts, and the judges maintain their own preferences regarding evaluator appointments and the scope of orders. Some courts appoint from a familiar roster; others accept agreed nominations from counsel. If the parties can agree on an evaluator, that agreement usually carries.
Because the evaluator pool serving Montgomery, Walker, and surrounding counties is not large, availability drives timing. Filing a request for an evaluation without checking evaluator availability can add months to a case. Where an evaluation is likely, raise the appointment early.
Mediation remains required in most contested family matters before final hearing. A completed evaluation frequently makes mediation productive, because both sides finally have a neutral assessment to react to rather than competing assertions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I refuse a custody evaluation?
Not once the court orders one. Refusing to participate is itself reportable and will be construed against you. If you object to the appointment or its scope, the time to raise it is before the order is signed.
Will the evaluator tell my child what I said?
Evaluators are trained to avoid placing children in the middle, but nothing you say is confidential from the court. Assume every statement may appear in the report.
What if I disagree with the report?
Your attorney can cross-examine the evaluator at trial and, in some cases, retain a separate expert to review the methodology. Courts occasionally permit a second evaluation, but rarely and not simply because a party is unhappy.
Does the evaluator decide custody?
No. The judge decides. The evaluator provides findings and recommendations that the judge weighs alongside the other evidence.
My child has autism. Does the evaluator need special training?
If the child has an intellectual or developmental disability, House Bill 2340 requires at least three hours of relevant training completed within the prior two years, and an evaluation performed without it is inadmissible in that case. Confirm the credentials before the evaluation begins.
Should my child see a therapist before the evaluation?
If the child genuinely needs support, yes, and starting well before litigation is better. Beginning therapy days before an evaluation to generate a favorable collateral source is transparent and usually counterproductive.
Your Next Step
A custody evaluation is the closest thing family law has to a neutral referee, and it deserves to be taken seriously without being feared. Parents who understand what is being measured tend to do well, because the things evaluators look for are the things good parents already do.
Griffin & Cain, Attorneys at Law prepares Montgomery County parents for custody evaluations and scrutinizes evaluator qualifications and methodology in every case where an evaluation is ordered. Schedule your consultation with family law attorney Marissa Garcia before your evaluation begins. Contact our Conroe office today. We represent families throughout Conroe, The Woodlands, Montgomery, Magnolia, and Huntsville.
