Stephen E Doyne Phd

Dr. Doyne is either brilliant or clueless. I agree with many of the comments that state whoever pays gets the report written in their favor and he leaves out facts that would contradict his "paid" recommendation. The interesting result was a recommendation the paying co-parent would not accept. The court denied the co-parent's motion for custody because they would not agree with Dr. Doyne's recommendation. It is sad for the co-parent to pay so much money - 20,000 plus and attorneys fees to end up with nothing. The co-parent may try to appeal the court order denying their request, but they did not appear in court for their motion to be heard. The co-parent's all or nothing thinking may have got the best of them in their experience with a "paid" custody evaluation. Unfortunately, Dr. Doyne's paid report does not help this co-parent to reflect on being a reasonable parent with our children's best interest at heart. more

I hired Dr. Doyne to mediate a custody dispute. I explained to him that we hired him because it was less confrontational than court, private, and would resolve the dispute quickly. He agreed. We signed a contract. He reneged on every promise he made. He turned what should have been a three or four hour mediation into a multi-month long "custody evaluation", insisting that I travel from my home in Los Angeles to his offices in San Diego almost weekly. He would also invite both parties to call him to discuss "issues." I simply wanted to end the process as quickly as possible as his practice of encouraging conflict was causing everyone unnecessary stress. He also ran up his bill from an initial estimate of $2,500 to nearly a ten thousand dollar bill. I objected, and sent him a letter reminding him of the many promises (that he broke). I told him I would continue to participate in quickly resolving the mediation, but he had different plans. He retaliated by reporting me to CPS for entirely ordinary "rough-and-tumble" with my son, which my son loved for years. Dr. Doyne second guessed my judgment and reported me to CPS. A CPS agent contacted me, interviewed me, and told me on the spot that he saw no child abuse. Dr. Doyne, on the other hand, filed a declaration with the family court claiming that I had "frightened" my son. The court immediately shifted custody to my ex-wife and scheduled a hearing. Outside of the courtroom before the hearing, my attorney and I met with Dr. Doyne. My attorney told me "if you ever want to see your son again, you must pay his bill." Dr. Doyne simply stared at me and shook his head "yes." I was appalled--this man promised to mediate the case for $2,500---yet once I objected to his soaring fees and conflict-inducing behavior, refusing to pay for his conflict-inducing practices, he retaliated. He went into the courtroom and testified falsely, claiming that I held my son over the edge of a balcony. This was an outright lie. Avoid! more

We hired Doyne to mediate custody, not to conduct an "evaluation". He promised to do so quickly and withing the $5,000 budget we gave him. He immediately reneged--instead of helping us work out a custody schedule, he encouraged my ex and I to attack each other. She obeyed--criticizing petty issues such as my being late for a drop-off once. She was very manipulative, yet Doyne simply took her at face value, failing to verify her fabrications. I (probably stupidly) didn't fire back. I wanted to work out a peaceful schedule and move on with our lives. Doye fell for her lies. He quickly turned what was to be a peaceful, quick mediation into a shooting gallery. He demanded that we both take and MMPI (psychological inventory) and insisted that we would be required to pay $20,000 more for his new plan. I spoke with my attorney, requesting that she intervene and get Doyne back on track to mediation and get the case settled. She (.....--very weak) simply said "if you ever want to see your attorney again you'll pay him what he's asking for and go along with it." I was floored! This guy was extorting us. It was clear that if we didn't pay him more than what he promised, and go along with his unilateral conversion of a mediation into a full-blown custody evaluation, he would take custody. At first I went along, but I soon complained. I wrote a lengthy letter reminding him he agreed to mediate--not evaluate-and that he was breaching that agreement. He immediately retaliated by filing a report with CPS claiming I held my son upside down over a balcony. It was a lie. CPS investigated and determined Doyne's report to be a lie, but the damage was done--my ex insisted on switching custody and based upon Doyne's lie, the court complied. Very simply, Doyne is a quack. He will manipulate parents to attack each other, and tolerates--indeed encourages--liars. He is extremely dangerous to parents and kids alike. Avoid! more