Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

YFB can accept payments via check, money order, cashier's check, Venmo, or Zelle. If paying by check, money order, or cashier's check, you will be asked to mail your payment via U.S. Mail and work will not begin on your file until the check has cleared. YFB does not directly accept credit cards due to the processing fees; however, you may pay through Venmo in order to use your credit card. 

The costs for services vary. Typically, Alyssha charges $300/hr for any services that involve two clients, like parenting consulting, SENE work, evaluative mediation or parenting plan evaluations. Alyssha typically charges $200/hr for parenting coaching.

These prices are subject to change based on the fee agreement you will sign prior to beginning work with YFB. 

Yes, clients are required to provide and maintain a balance in their YFB account in order to cover services rendered. The amount requested will vary by service and by situation; an initial deposit for a parenting plan evaluation will be substantially higher than one for coaching services. Clients are required to replenish their accounts on a regular basis to ensure that a positive balance is maintained. 

While Alyssha understands that being asked to make a deposit prior to work being done on your file can present a challenge to potential clients, it is necessary for several reasons: 

1. It ensures that once work starts on your file, it will continue uninterrupted. 

2. It helps clients keep track of how they are utilizing services and better focus their  requests.  

3. For parenting consulting or parenting plan evaluation services, one party will, by virtue of the process, not get the solution they were hoping for. Attempting to collect payment after the service has been provided is therefore not practical. Similarly, after mediation or an SENE, the parties are often exhausted and just want to move forward, so accepting payment afterward is not a reliable solution. 

4. YFB is a small business and is unable to extend credit to our clients, including in the form of allowing clients to continue utilizing our services without sufficient funds in their payment accounts. The fees collected from our clients allow us to continue doing the work that we love at affordable rates. 

Yes - for PC clients, there is a sample fee agreement, rules and policy agreement, intake questionnaire, and example decision available by clicking on the "PC services" page and scrolling to the bottom.  

It is human nature to make instant judgments based on the information we are given. It is not my job to be a superhuman that has no bias, but rather to recognize the biases that I hold and then ensure that my decisions are based on facts and your child's best interests, not those biases. 

For PC clients:

There will be times that I speak to each parent first, so that parent will shape my initial view of an issue. My job is to recognize that my initial view is not based on full and complete information and to reserve judgment until I have all of the information I need to make a fair decision that will be in the best interests of your child. 

Each parent should feel free to be honest with me and if you feel like I've been unduly swayed by something, tell me.

The PC process will not be helpful if either parent feels like I am not hearing you or giving you appropriate consideration. Your history is important because that's how you got here, but what matters the most is the present and how we move forward. It is to be expected that each of you has things about the other parent you dislike. If all you saw were each other's best qualities, you wouldn't need to be in this process at all. This process will be nothing but a constant source of frustration if either of you feel like I haven't heard you on an issue; you do not have to have the same approach to speaking with me, but I cannot help if I don't know what you are thinking. If one parent makes an accusation, I will give the other parent opportunity to address it.

When I take longer than you would prefer to consider an issue, it is not because I am ignoring your file; once I make a decision, it is important for me to keep it in the back of my mind for a few days and come back to it to make sure it is truly what I believe is best for your child and not based on my feelings about either parent. I will also occasionally consult with other professionals, such as other lawyers or therapists, to make sure that my decision stands up to scrutiny and is not based on any biases I may hold.

For custody evaluation clients: 

In general, I do not speak to either party's attorney, though if both sides are represented, I will consider having a joint meeting with both attorneys at the beginning of the evaluation to ensure I correctly understand all of the salient points, and at the end to share my impressions prior to preparing a formal written report. If only one side has an attorney, I will not meet with the other side's attorney, though I will make sure any attorneys involved have copies of any fee agreements or other documents provided to the parents. As an attorney myself, I am well aware that it is a lawyer's job to advocate for their client's position. While most family law attorneys genuinely attempt to act in the best interests of the child(ren), an attorney only knows what their client tells them. Therefore, I do not find it particularly useful to consult with the attorneys on a case because it is their job to attempt to influence me into adopting their client's position, and it is my job to base my decision on facts, not persuasive writing or charismatic speakers. 

As with my PC clients, I may occasionally consult with other professionals to ensure I am considering all aspects of a situation and am aware of all available options. I will typically require both parents to undergo the same processes; for example, I will generally not require only one parent to have a psychological evaluation done. This is to make sure that, should your case end up at trial, I am not put into a position of being accused of bias for only closely scrutinizing one parent's mental health. 

Unlike with my PC clients, I do not require parents to share everything they provide with the other side. That would be impractical due to the volume of information received, and in some cases, it would be complicated due to the existence of no-contact orders between the parents. However, I do save any items that I use in my decision as part of my file, which is available to both sides per the terms of the fee agreement.