I had a great experience w Dr. Weinstock. I think he listens to both sides and is very fair. He keeps you on task, and he was helpful in getting to a point of resolution. read more

Dr. Weinstock is firm but fair in Comprehensive Family Evaluations (CFE). His primary concern and focus is on the children. He maintains objectivity in a highly emotional situation and helps sort through trivial issues to get to the primary/root issue within the co-parenting dynamic. My advice to anyone going into a CFE is to be objective and do not give conclusions based on opinions or feelings. Answer questions directly and provide all supporting documentation and information that allows the CFE make the conclusion. Also, do not be afraid to admit fault. It is not an admission of guilt but a sign of self-awareness, which goes a long way to being a "better than average parent". This is not about you, it is about your children. I would absolutely recommend Dr. David Weinstock every time to conduct a CFE, especially for someone who is in a contentious custody dispute with someone who attempts to manipulate the system; however, I would not recommend him if this person is you. read more

I do not know if I can stress enough how horrible David Weinstock is at his job. If you are one of the unfortunate people that are forced by your divorce and our family court system to have to use David for custody issues, you should do everything in your power to find another provider. AZ Family Court loves to recommend David. In talking with other people that have researched him, it was brought to my attention that he is the "preferred' recommendation by judges and attorneys. To say he is a misogynist is an under statement. He has no intention of doing anything that is in the best interest of your children, in fact he bases his opinions on the documents he receives from attorneys and he sides with the parent that the child does not want to spend as much time with. I was told by him " I don't give a damn what the boys want, they will follow the court order. They need to learn what resilience is". He had a video session with my minor child and his father and told my son that if he did not sleep at his dad's house, he was going to tell the judge and he could tell her to order him to a juvenile facility. All this man wanted to do was schedule sessions. "Let's schedule a session to discuss...we should schedule a session with your other children..." I even told him, the first time meeting him, that I was consulting my attorney about the times my boys refused to see their father. He responded with, "Have you ever disciplined your children? Do you even know what discipline is?" Then he told me, " I can take away your custody of your children. I would hate for that to happen, but I can do it." I told him then I would force the boys to go to their dad's house, to which he replied, "You can't just start doing it now. We have to have eight sessions with you and father first then write letters of commitment to the boys." He is nothing more than a money grabber and home wrecker. I noticed in earlier reviews he charged $250/hour. When I was forced to go he was charging $350/hour and only working 4 days a week - and not full days. He is profiting from the court referrals and no one holds him accountable. Total God complex. You have a choice - CHOOSE SOMEONE ELSE! read more

To save face, AFCC should have weinstock investigated. Ask AI about Weinstock's reputation based on reviews- he's reported as unethical 70% of the time. Numbers don't lie. When AI suggests families go elsewhere other than weinstock, for help, there's a problem. As a therapist, he should have effective communication skills; I hear therapists report he's argumentative with them and flips roles that are not his to flip, to steer custody instead of letting the data points talk for themselves. In many cases, the data points are contrary to his findings. Weinstock needs to be investigated to mitigate harm to children and safe parents, he creates. Effective therapists should stand up to him, report concerns to colleagues and to your board. Child help employees have emailed DCS concerns about Weinstock bc he twists and manipulates their words, when documenting word for word is crucial in investigations. Words out he's dangerous. read more

It took me almost ten years to realize that I was the victim of sexual harrassment at the hands of their psychologist. My lawyer at the time told me that as psychologists, nothing is off limits for them. She told me they can ask absolutely anything they want. I remember their psychologist (I'm too scared to name him: victim's mentality) saying: "I'll find out the answers if you don't tell me the truth," and then proceeding to ask me racist & perverted questions (like asking about what RACE of women I am attracted to, whether I prefer OBESE or SKINNY women) that would have absolutely no relevance to a custody evaluation. This was before the MeToo Movement. I was a victim. read more

If the courts appoint this guy. Ask for someone else or ask for a different judge. This guys is not in the best interest of the parents nor the kids. He specializes in breaking up families and his own profiteering. I didn't have the money to pay this guy the co-pay of $1700 and they were goin to hold me in contempt cuz of him complaining to the judge. Other than working with me he went straight to the judge. Then when he got his money he sided with the mother other than listening to both sides. Then in court he lied and said I was not receptive and not fit. So I have not seen nor interacted with my kids for over 12yrs due to this guy and Judge Christopher Witten who no longer practices family law and judges taxes. So do not listen, visit or give this guy your money if you are willing to lose your family. Now they have no information about my visitation or payments but they knew I saw them in person. But I loss and haven't seen nor heard from my kids to this day. read more

Never allow Dr. Weinstock and FCE to evaluate child custody for you. He forms an opinion based on what information his graduate staff feeds him. He and his graduate staff are extremely subjective and only include in the report what agrees with their previously concluded opinion. In no way is the report fair and/or objective. The evaluation may feature various tests, but unless the tests agree with Dr. Weinstock's opinion, he disregards them. Never.... Never.... agree to Dr. Weinstock as your custody evaluator. read more

If I could give No stars I would. My experience happened in 2021 and I am still shaken about it to this day. Was forced to pay retainer since my ex wanted to move forward with a forensic interview. We had disagreements on my child attending therapy (ex disagreeing and me wanting her to go) as well as us bickering over everything. My ex is out of state and I've had residential custody since she was 1 years old. Weinstock immediately made it clear he did not favor me and attempted to accuse me of being a drug addict because my mom would drug me during childhood. He constantly belittled me and took sides with my ex rather fast. He ultimately said that he thinks I'm the problem for everything in our coparentinh relationship and disregarded any claims I made toward my ex including him raping me. He said he has to recommend joint but that I should watch out because he had power to reward sole custody to my ex. This man for lack of better words abused his position and made inappropriate comments to me and made me feel belittled every step.of the way. Never interviewed any of my witnesses. He's an narcissist and shouldn't be trusted in the eyes of the courts read more

THIS IS LONG, BUT READ EVERY WORD BEFORE YOU START YOUR EVALUATION. DUE TO THE LENGTH OF MY REVIEW, IT WON'T FIT ON ONE PAGE. I ATTACHED TO REST AS AN ATTACHMENT TO THE POST I just watched my wife go through a court ordered evaluation with Weinstock and his office.  It took 8 and a half months and delayed a trial because he's so slow.  Something to remember, this guy only gets business when the court orders it and assigns him a case.  This isn't an open door practice.  Good thing for him; otherwise he wouldn't have any business because he's terrible.  If you get assigned to him, immediately request another evaluator. If you are a party in a family law case, be prepared to Weinstock to not be able to separate fact from fiction.  The beginning of this evaluation will be nothing more than a blame game.  At the very beginning, he will ask for both party's accusations against one another and ask for multiple rounds of document submissions to prove these accusations.  Despite having the absolute truth of the entire scenario starring him right in the face, he won't pay any attention to it.  Generally in court, they say it doesn't matter what you say, it only matters what you can prove.  With Weinstock, it is exactly the opposite.  He doesn't care what you can prove, he only cares about what you say.  I lost count of the times he believed my wife's ex husband on some untrue, crazy accusation despite having black and white proof that the accusation is completely untrue.  Once he decides to believe something, its over.  Nothing else matters and he won't listen to you or anything else.  I had to be interviewed by him.  During my interview, I asked him if he had seen a particular document my wife submitted.  This particular document was the linchpin of the entire court case and evaluation.  It was the central piece of the court motion that ultimately got us all wound up in the evaluation.  He had this document for over 7 months and my wife had mentioned it to him and cited it multiple times.  I even quoted lines from it and Weinstock had no idea what I was talking about.  I even asked him, "do you know what document I'm talking about?  Have you read it?"  He responded, "no I don't think I'm familiar with that one."  I was speechless.  There is no excuse for him to not know about that document.  If he had any idea what he was doing, he would have read that document about 12 times by then.  He doesn't even read the stuff he asks you to submit.   I still can't wrap my head around how irresponsible he is with such an important task he is given. Also, if you are the spouse or significant other of a party in a family court case assigned to Weinstock, pay attention to this.  You will be asked to participate in this evaluation.  They will ask you to disclose your entire medical history including the names and addresses of every office you've visited or service line you've used, even any counselors or therapists.  They will also ask you to consent to over 4 hours of psychological testing in their office, they don't tell you how long it is before you consent.  They will also ask you to consent to a "home visit".  This "home visit" is actually a home search, but they don't tell you that before they come.  They will also ask you to consent to a phone interview.  Initially, I said no to all of it.  I didn't want anything to do with it.  Weinstock told my wife that if I don't consent to fully participate in this evaluation, it will be assumed that I have something to hide, she is helping me hide it and it will, therefore, reflect negatively upon her in the written report given to the judge.  Weinstock bullied my wife into believing  I had to be a part of this.  So to help her out, I consented to all of it. I have regretted it ever since. read more

Forensic Counseling and Evaluations - SECOND PART OF MY REVIEW - Divorce & Family Law Near Me - Scottsdale, Arizona

Court Ordered Psych Eval - I was just looking for a 50/50 custody arrangement. X wife was trying to get legal decision making taken away from me. This was based on false allegations of domestic violence, rape, killing small animals etc. Not much anybody can do about 50/50 time with the kids. I think a decision to take parenting time away from a parent should be done only on rare occasions. The system is correct in defaulting to 50/50. At any rate, Weinstock saw right through all the BS. You will never feel totally vindicated by one of these. He never flatly accused her of lying about my behavior, but he did find evidence that she lied a lot. He pointed that out throughout the report by questioning her veracity. He also figured out that she had been diagnosed with a personality disorder and found lots of evidence of alcoholism. The guy is professional. He collects data. I can't imagine hanging out with him. Does not seem like a ton of fun, but he is highly effective at cutting through all the lies. read more

This "court appointed" PC doesn't deserve a single star. The divorce business here in our state is horrendous and I was glad to see him dismiss his pathetic service from my case. My son clearly saw the truth that dad was being "railroaded" by the team of Weinstock and court appointed therapist Dr Marty Keller. BE WARNED AND DO WHAT YOU MUST TO GET HIS RECUSAL! NO FAMILY IS SAFE HERE. PS - read Mark S. as he's spelled it out very honestly and thoroughly! read more

My extremely difficult husband came here after going to just about every counselor or therapist we could find - he's that adult who had one of the worst childhoods you can imagine and has little patients for stupid counselors and will lie to them just to get the sessions over with bc he thinks their idiots... but wow... Dr Weinstock is the first person that was actually able to make a dent and help him!! He knows what he's talking about and if you can get over the cost (bc he is worth the money), it's totally worth every penny! I wish we could afford to go as much as possible... but I highly recommend him for any adults now trying to work through issues that stem from their childhood... his visits were voluntary so I can't speak to the court ordered people. read more

Well, I wish I had better things to say about my experience with FCE. First off, it was court appointed, I showed my ex the bad reviews on Yelp and she carried on....I paid..forced to pay, $800 retainer. I was given no road map of exactly FCE could accomplish, it was completely fishy and not the normal way I do business. Me and my ex wife were in the usual stupid bickering back and forth about what's best for our child, schedule, etc etc, and I was totally committed and in a way looking forward to having a third party help us to mediate our challenges. My first indication that this was not going to be a very, let's say, an empathetic experience. First indicator was the addressing of myself and my ex as 'father' 'mother' clearly they had our names and at an extortionate $200/hr (again forced by the court, backhanders all the way to the judge's reelection campaign fund I'm sure) I was expecting maybe someone to take the time to address us on a named basis. The impersonal clinical nature continued from there. Our PC was an ex Judge, Carey Hyatt. Seemed personable at first, but once we got going, she threw impartiality to the wind and started fanning the flames, not helping either party. She very quickly got caught up in the emotion, making every topic worse with her judgment, snide upper lip comments, uncontrollable condescending attitude. I was really taken back after our first meeting. I left thinking wow, am I really the worst Dad to walk the earth or is that woman just an asshole? I talked to my ex in the parking lot and she was taken back a bit but wouldn't admit to it fully, but she started crying and we argued, the usual script...and we went on our separate ways. From there, emails went back and forth, a lot of time, Hyatt causing more drama than fixing with oddly choices words and sometimes sentences all over the map, erratic capitalizations and just poor grammar, sometimes emailed late at night so maybe composed after a few cocktails?! Our second meeting, I lasted 15 minutes and I walked out. It was so bad, that my ex and I have started talking decently to each other now because we have found common ground, that common ground was FCE is a complete and utter waste of time and money. $200/hr!! For what? I recon $75 of that goes back to the reelection campaigns of these corrupt family law judges and $25/hr goes into a pot to buy the attorneys dinners that refer them. One farse industry in the bigger picture of the family law $50B a year money spinning machine. Good luck parents! If you need real help, go on Yelp and look at councilors on your own. Avoid attorneys and parenting coordinators at all costs! Be nice to each other, it's cheaper! X read more

I can't say enough about Dr. Weinstock - I didn't realize how good my life and the lives of my children would become after he lied in his reports and committed several acts of misconduct that stripped my children away from me so they could be given to my alcoholic ex-spouse. I couldn't possibly have imagined how beneficial it would be for my children to be forced by the court, based upon Dr. Weinstock's highly refined and superior insights to human behavior and healthy family dynamics graced to us through his custody report, to have limited visibility with their only stable parent on weekends and a couple of 2 hour dinner slots each week. I certainly count myself fortunate to have paid him nearly $20k for his world-class services that led my family to grow and heal in such positive ways as our family was ripped apart. I could tell that he was personally invested and cared deeply about the lives he was affecting but being the professional that he is, he hid his feelings masterfully behind a façade of indifference. So if you feel that there is room for improvement in your life and the lives of your loved ones, you should definitely check out Dr. Weinstock. He will bring you new and creative ways to see what you have been missing - life will never be the same! read more

I'm only giving her one star so it will weigh against her. She is the worse Arbitrator. The other party showed up high and with her boyfriend that beats her and the children. She refused to look at our paper trail. We had evidence against the other party but she refused to look at it. She believed the lies of the other party without verification. Her responses gave me and my attorney the impression that she had made her decision before we meet with her. Her decision was based on her biased only! She wouldn't listen to any discussion or evidence. read more

If I could give this place negative stars I would. I'll make it short and sweet in our year experience with using this place for our parent coordinator. If you want a place that has a high turnover rate, is unprofessional, expensive and does not follow their own protocol then this is the place for you! This parent coordinator looks for any reason to not make a decision after meeting with him so he can find a reason to make you come back which is just more $$$$$ for him. I don't ever take the time for many reviews but I hope to save someone the same waste of money, headaches, etc. that we experienced. read more

On advice of former counsel I was referred to Forensic Counseling & Evaluations group lead by Dr. David Weinstock. The Intensive Family Therapy approach was recommended; a week long, three hours a day approach utilizing the entire staff of the team divided up to handle counseling of my entire family during a divorce proceeding, with the goal of speeding up the reconciliation to my children process. I was led to believe this was an approach tested and used in other strained family proceedings as a result of a divorce. What I learned after signing up was my family was the guinea pig family! I was misled and this display of dishonesty and misrepresentation is a huge red flag of credibility in my mind. What I found was a very nice team of female therapists with the proper initials after their names, but lacking real world experience to deal with family issues; they were all young, single and without children. When I asked one to paint the picture of what a healthy family looks like, she answered," it is different for each family"! Wow! How would they know when the family has met the goal or was healed when there is no standard or goal to reach? I found Dr. Weinstock to be very impressed with himself (I am being polite here) and unable to admit mistakes or deliberate tactics used to actually undermine the process of reconciliation to my children. I confronted him on many occasions questioning how certain issues presented helped in the healing and reconciliation process and he ignored me or disregarded my comments. Just because counselors have degrees, doesn't mean what they say is the best answer and approach and when it comes to Dr. Weinstock this was most true. A common comment from all the therapists was we "aren't here to look at the past, we are here to look forward and look at behavior going forward"! I agree moving forward with understanding of what healthy behavior should look like, but what they are telling patients is, "we don't care about issues that have affected you personally and the family dynamics, we are here to let those issues fester, boil and grow worse below the surface, and never be resolved and understood because those unresolved, un-addressed issues will keep you coming back! This is ludicrous; any rational person understands "freeze points", or traumatic experiences in any person's life need to be understood and resolved before a person can move forward to become healthy! In Dr. Weinstock's case, his feelings and opinions about issues was more important and the standard he imposed about certain situations more important than my personal standard and goals of behavior for my children. Let me share an example. During a session with my four children I noticed my youngest son wasn't sitting up straight and wasn't showing respect and attention to Dr. Weinstock. I politely whispered to my son to sit up straight and pay attention to Dr. Weinstock. Dr Weinstock turned to me and stated, "You do not have permission to correct your son, you have been out of his life for a year!" He further stated, my son's sitting upside down on the chair as he spoke didn't bother him! I politely replied to Dr. Weinstock that I appreciated the fact my son's behavior didn't bother him, but it may bother another person he might show this behavior to and it bothers me as his father; I want a higher level of behavior for my children in professional situations. How did this facilitate my reconciliation to my children when Dr. Weinstock replied to me the way he did and put the thought in all my children's minds that I am not allowed to parent them just because due to the court system I haven't been in their lives? I could write a book on many other offensive,and undermining things done in therapy with Dr. Weinstock but will leave everyone that reads my review with this least offensive example. Stay away from this ego maniac and don't be swayed by a JD and a PhD! Look for a counselor with wisdom and sensitivity to the fact that every person and family is different; and a counselor with more compassion and open mindedness to look for the truth needed. Dr. Weinstock's using the court system to line his pockets and I don't see a sincere effort to see things objectively, but rather see them through his very biased eyes. Consider a man who is king of his practice; is the only male in the group; surrounded by a team of young, attractive counselors; and ask yourself the question, "What insecurity and shortcoming is this man personally trying to overcome in his own life, and how might this affect the influence he may have on my children and family"? By the way, after spending over $10k over two months and nothing to show for it, I am a bit skeptical of ever allowing this group to work with my kids again. Another friend of mine was forced to Dr. Weinstock's group by the courts and after five years and several thousand dollars is still where he began! I hope this helps! read more

Agree, stay away from this man. He never bothers to get to know the case. He has a dangerous ego and penchant for charging for services that are questionable in accuracy. read more

I agree with Marrie G. Dr. Weinstock is PHENOMENAL!! He was the only person in my 4 year custody battle that actually cared and thoroughly explored all information so that the truth finally came out. He saved my life!! My custody battle involved a drug addict that has never had a job with enabling parents who have a very large amount of money that enable him so much that they even put my daughter in harms way to cover up for him. He cannot even care for himself let alone have 50% custody of a child which the judge actually granted! As far as what he did for me compared to the attorneys involved in my case, he was pennies on the dollar. Anyone who says anything negative about this brilliant man is probably someone like my ex-husband who is dishonest and conniving, who actually fooled the judges and got through the court system erroneously and then was found out by Dr. Weinstock who is a genius!!! Thank you, Dr. Weinstock!! read more