John E Kincaid, PhD

Ok. So, we haven’t officially begun working with Dr. Kincaid. The court has appointed him, and while both parties have stipulated to using him and paying our shares, the other party is now refusing to participate despite a court order to do so.
So far however, Dr. Kincaid has been professional, kept good boundaries, been fair in his treatment of both parties, and to the extent that there has been any communication between he and the parties, he has been completely forthcoming with factual information. He has been pro-​active in communicating with the Court, all 3 attorneys (the children have one too) and thus far, seems to know his proverbial «stuff».
I suspect that with these kinds of things, no one is ever completely satisfied with the outcome, but that is the nature of a contentious custody battle. There is no agreement that’s why you hire an evaluator in the first place.
The point is, you want to find someone that is going to be completely above board, communicative, transparent, fair, exceedingly thorough in their investigation, and who has an excellent «B.S.» meter to cut through the false allegations, get to the truth, and ultimately make a solid recommendation that is truly in the best interests of the child (ren). Unlike the Courts/​Attorneys/​Law Enforcement, an evaluator has the ability to ask directed questions of anyone and will carefully contemplate every piece of evidence presented. Frankly, it’s what should have happened from the start.
More to come.

I personally was not impressed with Dr. Kinkaid. The whole process took 6 months! He interviewed only a few of the people on our list but the other party interviewd a whole bunch. He was brief with us and did not talk to the children when they were in our care at the time. He seemed to be very open with us and agreed with alot of things we said and made alot of jokes. We felt very confident when he left. When he interviewed the children everythig was fresh. Time went on and things settled and life was «normal and happy». When the 60 page report came back we were 100% shocked!!! We cannot believe the things that were saif from other party and ALL THE LIES. We can’t begin to explain how disturbed we are on how things turned out. The sad thing is the children pay for it. God Bless him!!!

I would not recommend that anyone retain a custody evaluator based on Unilocal reviews, but given the terrible rating by Diane H. (Who has now changed her profile to anonymous H. And sent me a strange e-​mail) of Dr. Kincaid, I felt that I should relate my experience.
Approximately 4 years ago, Dr. Kincaid was appointed by stipulation of myself and ex wife to conduct a custody evaluation for our then 5 year old son, in what can only be described as an extremely high conflict dissolution. The evaluation took approximately 9 months to complete (if I had one complaint, it is that it took longer than expected). At the end of it, we received a nearly 60 page report, that was extremely thorough, and while not flattering to either myself or my ex wife, was accurate. Most importantly, he did his job which was to look out for the best interest of our son.
A custody evaluation is not about making the parents feel good, it is about cutting through the garbage and working out what is in the best interest of the child (or children). If you are at the point where you need to get an evaluation, it is likely that neither you or your ex spouse will be happy with the recommendations, as they will not be what you are demanding, but have been otherwise unable to obtain in Court.