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Browse All > CLE Seminars

Trial Strategies: Making the Most (or Least) of a Custody Evaluation

Product ID: CA3880W
Presented By: State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE

This program is an excerpt from Addressing Children’s Issues in Divorce and Paternity Cases 2025.

Custody calls 

Custody evaluations may tip the balance in contested cases, but they don’t dictate the outcome. While judges often rely on the impressions of evaluators and guardians ad litem (GALs), they aren’t bound by their recommendations. From the first client interview to the final report, how you prepare, present, and respond can make all the difference in the court’s ultimate decision. 

Opportunity knocks

Trial Strategies: Making the Most (or Least) of a Custody Evaluation gives you the tools to approach custody evaluations as opportunities—not obstacles—for effective advocacy.

Read More ↓

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Pricing

Member $109.00

Non-Member $159.00

Credits

1 CLE

Date and Time

Monday, October 27, 202512:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Add to Calendar 10/27/2025 12:00:00 PM 10/27/2025 1:00:00 PM America/Chicago Trial Strategies: Making the Most (or Least) of a Custody Evaluation

This program is an excerpt from Addressing Children’s Issues in Divorce and Paternity Cases 2025.

Custody calls 

Custody evaluations may tip the balance in contested cases, but they don’t dictate the outcome. While judges often rely on the impressions of evaluators and guardians ad litem (GALs), they aren’t bound by their recommendations. From the first client interview to the final report, how you prepare, present, and respond can make all the difference in the court’s ultimate decision. 

Opportunity knocks

Trial Strategies: Making the Most (or Least) of a Custody Evaluation gives you the tools to approach custody evaluations as opportunities—not obstacles—for effective advocacy.

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This program is an excerpt from Addressing Children’s Issues in Divorce and Paternity Cases 2025.

Custody calls 

Custody evaluations may tip the balance in contested cases, but they don’t dictate the outcome. While judges often rely on the impressions of evaluators and guardians ad litem (GALs), they aren’t bound by their recommendations. From the first client interview to the final report, how you prepare, present, and respond can make all the difference in the court’s ultimate decision. 

Opportunity knocks

Trial Strategies: Making the Most (or Least) of a Custody Evaluation gives you the tools to approach custody evaluations as opportunities—not obstacles—for effective advocacy.

Read More ↓

Margaret Wrenn Hickey practices in the areas of divorce, family law, and elder law, including trusts for the disabled, Title 19, and guardianship. She is a shareholder in the law firm of Becker, Hickey & Poster, S.C., Milwaukee, and received her B.A. from Marquette University (1982, summa cum laude), where she was Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School (1986, cum laude). 

Margaret is a past president of the State Bar of Wisconsin and has served on the State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors (District 2, 2018 – 2024, 2005-2015, chair 2006-07, treasurer 2009-11). Margaret served as chair of the Family Law Section and the Elder Law and Special Needs Section boards of directors and as a member of both boards. She is a past president of the Milwaukee Bar Association (2004-05) and served on the board of directors from 1999-2005. Margaret also serves on the board of the Wisconsin Equal Justice Fund (President 2021) and served on the boards of the Legal Aid Society and public radio station WUWM.

Margaret lectures frequently on elder law and family law at local, state, and national bar meetings and to community groups and other professionals. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Bar Association, the Waukesha and Ozaukee Bar Associations, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Association for Women Lawyers and she is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, the Wisconsin Law Foundation and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (president for the Wisconsin Chapter, 2005-06), and is a diplomat in the American College of Family Trial Lawyers.

Margaret is named in the Best Lawyers in America for family and elder law and has been named as a “Super Lawyer” for many years, was named one of the top ten lawyers in the State of Wisconsin in 2012, as one of the top 25 women lawyers in the state, and as a “Woman in the Law 2011.”

  • Gain confidence in selecting evaluators suited to your client’s needs and the issues in their case
  • Get a breakdown of “dos and don’ts” for preparing expert witnesses 
  • Understand how to highlight strengths or blunt weaknesses in evaluation reports
  • Be ready to pivot regardless of how a GAL recommendation or home study comes back
  • Enhance your trial advocacy by knowing how to frame expert opinions in terms the court understands 
  • Family lawyers
  • Lawyers for children
  • Guardians ad litem
  • New lawyers
  • Paralegals

Margaret Wrenn Hickey practices in the areas of divorce, family law, and elder law, including trusts for the disabled, Title 19, and guardianship. She is a shareholder in the law firm of Becker, Hickey & Poster, S.C., Milwaukee, and received her B.A. from Marquette University (1982, summa cum laude), where she was Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School (1986, cum laude). 

Margaret is a past president of the State Bar of Wisconsin and has served on the State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors (District 2, 2018 – 2024, 2005-2015, chair 2006-07, treasurer 2009-11). Margaret served as chair of the Family Law Section and the Elder Law and Special Needs Section boards of directors and as a member of both boards. She is a past president of the Milwaukee Bar Association (2004-05) and served on the board of directors from 1999-2005. Margaret also serves on the board of the Wisconsin Equal Justice Fund (President 2021) and served on the boards of the Legal Aid Society and public radio station WUWM.

Margaret lectures frequently on elder law and family law at local, state, and national bar meetings and to community groups and other professionals. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Bar Association, the Waukesha and Ozaukee Bar Associations, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Association for Women Lawyers and she is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, the Wisconsin Law Foundation and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (president for the Wisconsin Chapter, 2005-06), and is a diplomat in the American College of Family Trial Lawyers.

Margaret is named in the Best Lawyers in America for family and elder law and has been named as a “Super Lawyer” for many years, was named one of the top ten lawyers in the State of Wisconsin in 2012, as one of the top 25 women lawyers in the state, and as a “Woman in the Law 2011.”

  • Gain confidence in selecting evaluators suited to your client’s needs and the issues in their case
  • Get a breakdown of “dos and don’ts” for preparing expert witnesses 
  • Understand how to highlight strengths or blunt weaknesses in evaluation reports
  • Be ready to pivot regardless of how a GAL recommendation or home study comes back
  • Enhance your trial advocacy by knowing how to frame expert opinions in terms the court understands 
  • Family lawyers
  • Lawyers for children
  • Guardians ad litem
  • New lawyers
  • Paralegals
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