INVESTIGATIONS FOR CHILD CUSTODY PART 1
It must be understood that if an accused
person is innocent, it is our duty to prove them innocent. However, if
they are guilty, they should be proven guilty, Agent or Investigators
must look to a higher level of ethics than that demonstrated by our
nations leadership over the last decade. The results of investigations
are far reaching and will affect lives for many years or even an entire
lifetime.
In a child
custody dispute either a male or a female often feels that he or she is
entitled to children or a child. These are often the result of broken
homes due to a divorce action or a modification of a divorce. The
courts can deem the action as temporary or final.
Relative to
the past the pendulum is swinging in favor of men.
Again it is all relative to the facts. However the word pendulum is used to denote the changing of social mores
and values and what is in vogue and what is not. In the past the man
had no chance of custody. Often even if the women chose prostitution as
her livelihood, she would not lose the children in a custody dispute.
However, this is no longer the case. Recent cases have demonstrated
that where the man has secured custody of a minor girl and no unfitness
had been established or it was demonstrated and
that man could provide a
better environment for a child than the woman, men have been granted
custody. Conversely the same is true for the woman. If the women can be
shown to provide a better environment for the child and no unfitness was
established she would be granted custody. Thus it is the interests of
the child’s psychosituational status and their future which are the
issues. Not petty he said-she said revenge deputes.
When
investigating a child custody case and establishing the purpose of the
custody there are several important factors that must be considered.
Within the
courtroom the client’s stability, character, reputation, and intent must
be established. When these factors cannot stand the test of judicial
review by a judge then it would be futile for her/him to attempt to
represent themselves as a better parent for the children. When neither
parent can establish good character nor intent the courts have taken
children from both parents and fostered them for care and nurturing.
There must be
sufficient evidence to establish a person as an unfit parent. The
evidence must be of an unbiased nature and well documented for courtroom
presentation. The documentation as you have been well taught by these
examiner courses must be of the manner, which will be most effective and
accessible to the court. As an Agent or Investigator, it is your skill
which is often overlooked by the attorney and the client and when they
go into judicial proceeding’s they are not properly prepared and
ultimately lose their case. This examiner in previous studies
demonstrated where I had provided decisive evidence to where opposing
council would admit after deposition or even during three full eight
hour days of my deposition, that my decisive evidence was mandatory
and compulsive in their minds. In other words when a
"professional" of any
profession sees another so prepared as to achieve the ultimate in their
field; even the opposition may pause to congratulate you for the
moment.
On
one case I was now paid my first hour of
deposition with the check up front and a check
submitted by the attorney initially for disposition of research.. However,
for the hearing, the attorney decided
to look for a local so called expert, and during
hearing, opposing council realizing that the new experts had not the
smoking gun, turned the case around by changing the argument to new
areas and won the case. Upon hearing of the Judgment, this examiner can only state
that I felt bad for justice but had could only smile at the foolish
attorney. Fool is the appropriate word. Never allow egotism,
pontification, and self-egregious or self-aggrandizing ways to
enter your mind on a case. As an Examiner, Agent or Investigator, it is
your dogged dedication to Justice, which properly prepared decisive
evidence. Your subsequent testimony remaining focused to that work will
stand the test of Judicial Review or even in the best case scenario
cause opposing council to stand down and settle absent wasting any of
the taxpayer’s moneys or client monies on futile cases. Again, often
had a professional experienced and seasoned Examiner, Agent or
Investigator taken the stand with their properly documented decisive
evidence presented, they would have been successful in their court action.
The
attorneys past experience, ability and attitude are invaluable
in winning a
custody case. It is not until the evidence itself
has been established,
should a client choose an attorney. The attorney of utility will vary
in accordance with the demands that the evidence present for the
particular case.
Of course,
the intangible and uncontrolled factor is the Judge. This factor alone
makes a child custody hearing a 50% chance no matter how good your
evidence is, or how good the character of your client is, or how good
your attorney is.
The motive and purpose of a child custody case must be on the sincere
belief that the welfare of the children is paramount, and that the
children will be the beneficiaries of the action. Never should a case
be based on revenge, nor the “I want to win a case” basis but on the
sincere belief that she or he can provide a better home and better
environment for the children. Once established, a person has a solid
basis for their case standing the test of judicial review. A parent who
truly wants the very best for the children must exhaust every effort to
fulfill this belief.
THE
NARRATIVE WILL ESTABLISH INVESTIGATIVE PROTOCOL
After
undertaking a case, the Agent investigating the charge must establish a
narrative report which covers all of the known facts and all of the
unknown facts weighed one against another until procedures and a plan
have been determined for a successful outcome. If one cannot write
what they are going to do, it is highly questionable that they will be
able to perform. Thus, all good investigative procedures make plan
to write the negatives, positives and risks against results to be
analyzed and scrutinized by the Agent investigator. Just as in
physics, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Thus, when one participates in the action of examination or
investigation they must realistically anticipate the reactions.
This is what makes a good examiner; the realistic anticipation of what
the reactions will be. If the examining Agent is not realistic,
they will not be able to predict the outcome of these actions, resulting
in chaos. Again, this examiner has sited an
important case where I spent hundreds of man-hours preparing decisive
evidence for my client, an attorney. However, once my bill was paid,
absent the Attorney understanding what it takes to be a seasoned
Examiner, he hired a local expert, and lost the case as
neither of the two had prepared for the chaos which results from the
absence of the predictions of the outcomes of reactions to the action.
In other words the seasoned opposing council changed the argument
and won. Of course my
past client lost their case and money.
Egotism makes not a sound ego.
THE
REPORT
Accurate reports are extremely important. It is their complete
documentation, utilizing all of the decisive possibilities of evidence
that might exist, which will be brought out in court. They must consist
of all decisive evidence such as photographs, videos, and any evidence
which the Agent investigator may have come into possession of.
Document to the minute details of occurrences. The thoroughness of the
documentation must stand the test of judicial scrutiny. The agent must
be able to diagram properly areas under surveillance, and to follow the
same style of report writing that this examiner has presented in my many
sections of the various types of narratives, reports and statements
which stood the test of judicial review.
ASSURANCE
Security in any investigation is always a problem. Relative to the
Client, there is nothing closer to the heart than the investigation.
Their reputation, their whole life’s achievements, they feel will be
dependent upon the security and confidential attitude that you maintain
in his case behalf. Extreme caution must be used. No documents are to
be left in vehicles or restaurants, or lost through neglect. These
types of lacks in security could reveal and identify the investigation
and the client’s part in it.
It has been said the child custody investigations involving clients of
great wealth can become as much of a security problem as the atomic
bomb. Unfathomable amounts of money will be spent to intercept and
destroy evidence and wherever possible bribes possibly the investigators
who are on the case! Thus, all important files and information
concerning them must be kept under lock and key and not available to
anyone except the investigators who are working the case. This is
usually in the form of recorded discs in coded computer language, locked
away. Even if discovered the encryption may not be feasible for the
average Agent or investigator to decifer. Security is a priorii of importance in
any of your operations or cases.
Agents must
never talk, even in generalities, concerning the operation. Only a
small coincidental Freudian slip can let a seasoned Agent comprehend
that your investigation, on behalf of your client is underway. This of
course, reveals to the subject your investigation, which then
jeopardizes your entire case.
by Dr. Scott D Neff, DC, DABCO MPS-BT MSOM DACFE CFE
FFAAJTS
“The Child is the
father of Man” William Wordsworth: My heart Leaps up When I Behold
Part
II Child Custody Investigations Click on this link.
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