Legal Question in Family Law in Louisiana

Re: Can they ban a psychiatrist from the hearing?

Dear LawGuru Friend,

First of all, it is the Judge's decision, not the decision of your husband's lawyer. Of course, he has the right to object, based on the fact that he learned too late in the game about the existence of this expert witness. I do not know what parish you are in; but if I did, I could check the rules of court to see what the rules say about how much in advance of a trial one party has to disclose the names of his or her witnesses to the other side. It could be that during the course of your litigation that the judge issued a "pre-trial order" ordering each side to reveal the names of its witnesses at least thrity days in advance of the scheduled trial. If you do look into the matter of the rules of court and/or the judge's pre-trial order and find that you have in fact let a deadline pass for disclosing your witness list, then you might want to give some thought as to how to get the upcoming trial date postponed. There are several ways to to that, and you can use your imagination as well as my suggestions as to how to do it. For example, I know one time my client got sick and went to the doctor on the morning of the scheduled trial and I was able to get the trial continued until a later date. Now if the trial would be continued due to something such as a sudden illness, one would want to inquire as to whether a new pre-trial order would apply for the re-scheduled trial date, or whether or not the old pre-trial order would still be in effect. This law practice is complicated; and a good lawyer has to be crafty to survive and to help his or her clients, especially since there is usually always a very good and smart and crafty lawyer on the other side of each case. I have a great respect for lawyers and their abilities. I have never come up against a bad lawyer, always very good ones. Best of luck!

Sincerely,

Hardy Parkerson, Atty.

Lake Charles, LA

Re: Can they ban a psychiatrist from the hearing?

I assume you have an attorney, since you obviously can afford your own expert. It is wrong for you to second guess your attorney if he still represents you. With that said, I cannot try to undercut your paid counsel and no other attorney should. If you fire your attorney, that is a different story. If that happens, then you need a continuance and that will give opposing counsel time to depose your expert, and you time to find another attorney. But be careful, changing horses in the middle of the case is very dangerous.