Family Procedure Rules

This chapter describes the Family Procedure Rules which specify the roles and responsibilities of experts in providing opinions and advice to the court. It is the judge, not the expert, who makes decisions. Experts may only offer opinions on matters that fall within their domain of expertise. These need to be argued on the basis of sound evidence from a knowledge base that is accepted within their profession. It is the court that makes findings of fact which are unassailable. Practice Direction (PD) 25B lays out rules about the content of reports. Experts need to be sure that there are no conflicts of interest in accepting the case and testify that they meet the standards defined in the appendix to PD 25B. Permission from the court is needed if a child is to be assessed. Experts are expected to be flexible rather than dogmatic in their opinions, which may change in light of additional evidence.