Family

Experts in Children Act cases could not receive information “in confidence” from anybody. All relevant information normally had to be shared with the other parties and the court. Therefore, the experts’ report would invariably be disclosed whatever it said. The duty of the expert was to be objective and wholly free from bias in favour of one party or the other. The watchwords had to be openness and sound preparation, and experts had to be prepared for everything they did and said to be the subject of challenge. In some cases of either forced marriage or ‘honour’ based violence, however, disclosure of information given by a witness to an expert might well put the witness, or the source of information at risk.