FAMILY LAW CASES & SECTION 47 REPORTS

Kevin's Blog

I have recently discussed problems that have arisen with section 47 reports in family law cases and I am not sure if it’s coincidence but I have received a number of queries recently in relation to people who are having considerable difficulties with section 47 reports.

The main problem appears to be that many clients believe that the psychologist in question has made up their mind about them almost before the first meeting takes place. I have had reports of clients being questioned in a quite aggressive manner and clients getting the feeling from the tone of the questions that the psychologist’s sympathies lie very much with the other side. 

In my experience clients should come out of the section 47 process not knowing what the conclusions are likely to be in the report or as happens in some cases, the psychologist has already discussed the conclusions with both clients and both clients are basically happy. 

The problems arise however where during the course of the preparation of the section 47 report one of the parties becomes unhappy with the psychologist and wants to have that person removed. I have been involved in a number of cases where clients have expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the manner in which the section 47 process was being conducted by a child psychologist but only on one occasion did the client go so far as to instruct me to apply to have that person removed. We made our application and we met with Counsel and my client was told in no uncertain terms that unless there was an example of extreme and overwhelming wrongdoing, there was no chance that the court would remove the section 47 professional as it was felt that this would create a very dangerous precedent. 

The argument is that the section 47 personnel are all well known to the courts and are all extremely well qualified otherwise they would not be on the panel of experts in the first place. It is felt that in many section reports, one side is going to be very unhappy with the recommendations so it is not unusual that the complaints are made but this tends to colour the fact that in my experience, a number of my clients who have been unhappy with the manner in which the section 47 process was conducted, were quite entitled to be unhappy. However, there is very little you can do and it is for this reason that I always encourage clients as vigorously as I possibly can to treat the Section 47 process almost as if it were the hearing itself. Section 47 findings are not binding on the court but they are extremely persuasive and if your solicitor believes it is necessary for you to be fully prepared for a court hearing, then there is absolutely no reason why you should not also be fully prepared for the section 47 meetings. These meetings are critical and can affect the rest of your life. If your solicitor does not appear to be taking the matter seriously or devoting enough time to helping you prepare for these meetings, then you should absolutely insist that your solicitor set aside time to go through the type of questions you are likely to be asked and what the psychologist is likely to be looking for when preparing the report. 

In my experience, the section 47 report is by far the most critical document that is presented to a court and the section 47 process should be treated with extraordinary care and attention. 

Please also be very careful that you know exactly what the other side are saying to the section 47 professional. There is nothing to stop the other side writing lengthy letters to the psychologist giving one side of the story. In my opinion that is absolutely wrong and any such letters should be shared but in my experience that often does not happen. During the process you should ask the psychologist to confirm what input s/he has received from the other side and also confirm that you will receive copies of any correspondence she has received from them so that you can deal with anything of relevance.

Kevin Brophy,

Brophy Solcitors