Dr. Howard Drutman, PhD

With this review, I hope to prevent other families from making the same mistake we did. Upon our approval, Howard Drutman was appointed as our family's custody evaluator to help determine the best interests of our children. This review does not question Howard Drutman's knowledge, but unfortunately, it does shed light on his professionalism, character, and how he uses his knowledge. My experience is that he has created a fine-tuned system that exploits families' vulnerabilities due to greed. Howard Drutman initially quoted our family $8-$14K but ended up charging over $50,000. Within 10 minutes of his testimony in court, the judge disagreed with him and ruled against his recommendation. Just this past week, the judge entered the final order explaining the court's disagreement. Drutman completely flip-flopped; his testimony did not even match the written recommendation that he provided the court just a month or so earlier—a recommendation for which he charged over $50K and took over… two years to complete was basically dismissed in minutes. I'll spare the details, but it was primarily over money. Howard Drutman was swayed by the opposing counsel's threats and questioning. He acted extremely unprofessionally. He was caught on video sharing private information regarding the custody evaluation with a third party, in which he called the mother of my children many terrible names. His conduct created harm in the effort to foster healthy co-parenting in the future. Other professionals in Howard's network to avoid are Julie Medlin and David Alexander, listed in the Atlanta Collaborative Divorce Alliance. The opposing counsel was Bruce Steinfeld. I didn't do the research I should have before approving him as our custody evaluator, and for that, I take 100% responsibility. I hope this review helps prevent your family from having a similar experience.

Do not use this man. In my opinion he is abrasive and lacks compassion. There are too many others who will do a better job. Total waste of time

Impossible to schedule with. Confused my child's situation with another. Develops flash opinions based on limited, incomplete, and false assumptions. Requires communication via email to which he rarely responds... unless it is regarding his invoice. I do not recommend his services.

Doesn't care to help. Doesn't prioritize clients. Doesn't communicate with clients but takes money for doing nothing. Kids are at risk of harm if you rely on him.