Screening
Experts
Who can
you believe?
Many
professionals can assess mental capacity issues. Few can
assess undue influence.
A growing
number of people claim to be experts at assessing undue
influence - and although many of these
self-proclaimed "experts" are well-intentioned, most are not
experts. They may be excellent physicians or therapists, but
few are actually trained to evaluate undue
influence. This point must be emphasized: Even
professionals who have testified on this issue need
to be screened. Many do not know the models or current
practices - or they know only 1 or 2 methods. This
is unacceptable if your case is important or complex. Screen
all “experts” carefully.
Basic
questions:
1) What specific training have you had that qualifies you as
an expert? A related question is: Has your work been
supervised or evaluated by known experts in the field of undue
influence assessment?
2)
What specific experience do you have? (You are looking for
training and continuing education - not merely the quantity
of testimony.)
3)
What articles/chapters/books/lectures, etc., have you written/given on this
topic? (Again, many "experts" have written articles
- but not on undue influence.)
