Why Does Your Divorce Lawyer Want to Summon Expert Witnesses?
Anyone can claim to be an expert, especially in the age of YouTube and Tik Tok, where there is so much content with so little context. Teachers would be wise to spend as much effort in teaching students how to test the credibility of the information they find as in teaching them how to find the information. Who would have thought, 15 years ago, that today, professors would be telling students to search for information on Wikipedia and follow the citation links, because at least Wikipedia has citation links, unlike most of what you see online? Someone must be a true expert if their professional opinion can determine the outcome of a legal case. Expert witness testimony can determine the outcome of criminal cases; for example, it takes an expert witness to explain why trace amounts of the defendant’s DNA found at the crime scene might not mean that the defendant is guilty, or why, even with an old, degraded DNA sample, we can still be sure that the DNA recovered from the crime scene belongs to the defendant and not to anyone else. The expert witnesses in family law cases do not usually testify about DNA, but the expert testimony they present still requires specialized professional knowledge. To find out more about why you might need expert witnesses to testify in your divorce case, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.
Expert Witnesses Can Present an Objective Professional Opinion
Expert witnesses present information, during a trial, that supports the position of one of the parties; the lawyer for the opposing party then has a chance to cross examine the expert witness. By nature, the expert witness does not know the parties and did not personally witness the events about which they disagree. For example, in a medical malpractice case, the expert witness is a physician in the same area of clinical practice as the defendant, but the plaintiff was never a patient of the expert witness. The expert witness interprets the plaintiff’s medical records in front of the judge or, if applicable, the jury, and gives his or her opinion on what the defendant should have done and whether the defendant’s actions breached the standard of care.
Litigants in divorce cases often summon expert witnesses in disputes about imputed income, which is how much income one of the parties can expect to earn in the near future; the courts often base their calculations of alimony and child support amounts on imputed income. A vocational expert witness might be a professional career counselor giving an opinion about how much money a spouse who was out of the workforce during the marriage can expect to earn if she returns to the workforce after the divorce, considering her age, health, and employment history and current labor market conditions.
Contact Schwartz | White About Divorce Cases That Require Expert Witnesses
A South Florida family law attorney can help you prove your need for alimony by summoning expert witnesses at your divorce trial. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
flcourts-media.flcourts.gov/content/download/218025/file/TCP-AExpertWitnessRecommendationsJune2014.pdf
