FOR FAMILY-LAW ATTORNEYS
A neutral your clients will follow, and your judges will read.
Family Law services from Succession Works — clinically trained, statute-anchored, and structured so the engagement is predictable from intake through filed report.
THE DIFFERENCE
Mental-health training, applied to family court.
Both legal and clinical professionals serve in family law roles. The involvement of a Licensed Mental Health Counselor offers something specific that legal-only neutrals don't.
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Insight into age-appropriate behavior, emotional needs, and milestones — so recommendations match the child's actual stage.
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Clinical evaluation of anxiety, attachment, trauma response, and regulation — in parents and children.
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How each member's role shapes the whole — and how that shows up in the parenting dispute now in front of you.
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A decade-plus of direct work — in homes, schools, and communities — with families navigating exactly the dynamics that produce litigation.
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Recommendations translated into the child's developmental and emotional reality — not legal positioning.
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CAMS-certified suicide assessment, plus a clinical eye for substance use, intimate partner violence, and other complicating factors.
BEYOND THE OFFICE
I've spent more than a decade as an Intensive In-Community (IIC) provider — supporting children and parents inside their homes, schools, and communities. Most clinicians who do this work see families only in a counseling room. I've spent years in their kitchens, before they ever reached the courthouse. That perspective changes what I notice on a home visit, and what I write in the report.
scope
The two roles.
§§61.401-405
Guardian ad Litem
Court-appointed best-interest advocate. Party to the case with continuing duty until final order. Confidentiality under §61.404.
§61.20
Social Investigation
Comprehensive court-ordered evaluation. Statute-anchored report mapped to §61.13(3); recommendations in plain language.
ENGAGEMENT
Predictable structure. No back-end surprises.
Hours are billed for the work that varies case-to-case — evidence gathering, interviews, observations, calls, travel, court appearances, depositions. The deliverable is a fixed all-in fee, so when the report goes to the court, you and your client already know what it cost.
Social Investigator
Hourly - $350
Intital Retainer - $5,000
Fixed-fee report (all-in) - $2,500
Guardian ad Litem
Hourly - $350
Intital Retainer - $5,000
Fixed-fee report (all-in) - $2,500
Testimony / deposition
Hourly - $550 (4-hr min, portal-to-portal)
Intital Retainer - —
Fixed-fee report (all-in) - —
The fixed report fee covers all document review, statutory-factor analysis, drafting, and recommendations — regardless of how many hours that takes us. The retainer is applied against hourly time as it's invoiced and replenished before it runs low. The default cost split between parties is 50/50 unless the court orders otherwise.
how it works
From referral to filed report.
STEP 1
Send the order
Email a copy of the Order Appointing — or proposed order — and contact info for both attorneys.
STEP 2
Acceptance filed
Acceptance is filed with the court within days. Welcome letter, informed consent, and fee agreement go to both parties.
STEP 3
Evidence gathering
Interviews, home visits, observations, collateral calls, document review, and any in-scope testing.
STEP 4
Report & close
Final report served on counsel and filed with the court. Notice of completion filed. Final invoice issued.
SAMPLE MATERIALS
Available on request.
Counsel sometimes wants to see how the work reads before sending the next case. Email Jaimie for any of the following:
Bio and CV
Professional comparison chart (PC / SI / PPE / Mediation / GAL — scope, statute, reporting authority)
Service one-pager and attorney welcome packet
Sample (redacted) report excerpt
Proposed-order templates for SI, GAL, and PC engagements
Intake forms used with parties — co-parenting questionnaire, child history, statutory-factor worksheet
FOR THE FIRM
Want a 20-minute introduction?
I'll bring sample (redacted) report excerpts, the comparison chart, and the engagement structure your associates will appreciate. CLE-style brief for the firm if that's welcome.
Let’s get started
Change begins with one simple conversation. Whether you're navigating a court order, preparing your firm for the next case, or somewhere in between — I'm here to help.