§331.3. Custody or visitation proceeding; court-ordered child custody evaluation

            A. The court may order a child custody evaluation in a custody or visitation proceeding for good cause shown. The child custody evaluation shall be made by a licensed mental health professional, as defined in R.S. 9:331, using the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts' Guidelines for Parenting Plan Evaluations in Family Law Cases.

            B. To serve as a court-ordered child custody evaluator in accordance with this Section, a licensed mental health professional shall have completed at least five co-evaluations under the direct supervision of another court-ordered child custody evaluator. Licensed mental health professionals who completed at least five court-ordered child custody evaluations prior to August 1, 2024, are not required to complete the co-evaluations in order to serve as a court-ordered child custody evaluator.

            C. The court may order a party or the child to submit to and cooperate in the evaluation, testing, or interview by a child custody evaluator.

            D. In a case where domestic abuse is an issue, the child custody evaluator shall have current and demonstrable training and experience working with perpetrators and victims of domestic abuse.

            E. The court may render judgment for the costs of the child custody evaluation, or any part thereof, against any party or parties as the court may consider equitable, taking into consideration the parties' ability to pay. The court may also preliminarily allocate costs at the outset and reserve the right to reallocate costs upon conclusion of the custody matter.

            F. The child custody evaluator shall provide the parties with a written report. This report shall state the basis of the evaluator's conclusions or recommendations and the extent to which the information obtained limits the reliability and validity of the opinion and the conclusions and recommendations of the evaluator.

            G. There shall be no presumption in favor of the child custody evaluator's findings.

            H. The child custody evaluator shall serve as a witness, subject to cross-examination by a party.

            I. When a child custody evaluator has been appointed by the court, there shall be no ex parte communication by the litigants or their attorneys with the child custody evaluator unless authorized by law or court order or agreed to by the parties. All oral communication with the child custody evaluator shall be by teleconference or meeting in which each party to the proceeding participates either through the party's attorney or as a self-represented litigant. All written communication or correspondence to the child custody evaluator, along with any attachments thereto, shall be provided contemporaneously to all parties to the litigation or their attorneys of record. Communications initiated by the child custody evaluator with a litigant for the purpose of conducting the court-ordered evaluation shall not be considered ex parte communications prohibited by this Subsection.

            J. Child custody evaluations conducted pursuant to this Section are subject to the following evidentiary restrictions:

            (1) All opinion testimony offered by a child custody evaluator shall be subject to Code of Evidence Articles 702 and 703.

            (2) No child custody evaluator conducting an evaluation pursuant to this Section shall undertake or perform any other role or function relative to the parties or children.

            (3) Every child custody evaluator conducting an evaluation pursuant to this Section shall comply with all statutory and administrative licensing and ethical rules and regulations otherwise applicable to the profession.

            (4) All parties shall have the right to full pretrial discovery of the entire file of the child custody evaluator regarding the case, including the right to depose the child custody evaluator.

            (5) No indigent parent shall be denied the opportunity to depose, cross-examine, or otherwise challenge a court-appointed child custody evaluator in the same manner as a nonindigent parent, and any fees and costs incurred in any such deposition shall be considered within the purview of Code of Civil Procedure Article 5185.

            (6) No evidence concerning polygraphs, voice-stress analysis, or other such physiological measures shall be admitted into evidence in any form.

            (7) All psychological testing, principles, diagnoses, and concepts utilized by a child custody evaluator shall be limited to those which have been empirically established and generally accepted in the mental health profession as valid and reliable for the parameters and conditions purportedly tested or the issues evaluated.

            Acts 2024, No. 552, §1.