With the passage of new Best Interest Factors, it is appropriate to discuss standards for custody evaluations which would provide greater uniformity and promote better practices for those who conduct these evaluations. This presentation will focus on how evaluators can provide helpful and effective evaluations so that parents, attorneys and the court have reliable information to use in making decisions about custody and parenting time arrangements that benefit children. We will look at the multiple methods used in evaluations, the sources of data that are necessary, how that data is analyzed and synthesized, and how recommendations are formulated.