1. (1) Psychologists must inform all participants, including parents, children when feasible, other family members, and third party contacts such as teachers, physicians, and child care providers, of expected confidentiality limits regarding any information they provide to the psychologist during the evaluation, including:

   1. (a) limits applicable to the general practice of psychology, such as a duty to warn of possible imminent danger to a participant or to others;
   2. (b) legal obligations to report suspected child or elder abuse; and

   3. (c) exceptions to confidentiality stemming from the specific requirements of a parenting plan evaluation, including:

      1. (i) the need to disclose information provided by any participant to other participants to obtain accounts of circumstances pertinent to the issues evaluated;
      2. (ii) the expectation of disclosure of relevant information provided by individual participants to the involved attorneys, the court, and the guardian ad litem, if one is appointed; and
      3. (iii) the likely disclosure of the psychologist's findings, professional opinions, and recommendations regarding the resolution of contested matters within the scope of the evaluation to parents, their attorneys, the court, and any other party, such as a guardian ad litem.

2. (2) Psychologists must:

   1. (a) obtain written waivers of confidentiality from the parents participating in the evaluation that encompass all information disclosures to other persons, including other participants in the evaluation, attorneys, and the court;
   2. (b) take reasonable precautions in handling children's disclosures of abuse, neglect, or any other circumstances that may place the child at increased risk of physical or emotional harm and recognize the right of any person accused of misconduct to respond to allegations while placing the highest priority on the child’s safety and well-being ;
   3. (c) recognize that disclosures of statements by abused spouses may pose special risks to the safety and well-being of persons claiming to be victims of domestic abuse. Prior to disclosure of such allegations to an alleged perpetrator or to other persons who may support, collude with, or otherwise increase the risk of abuse, the psychologist must inform the alleged victim that the disclosure will take place and, if appropriate, provide information on available community resources for protection, planning, personal assistance, and counseling for domestic abuse victims; and
   4. (d) not agree to requests by parenting plan evaluation participants to conceal information shared with the psychologist and instead must clarify the requirements of the evaluation regarding confidentiality, and may advise the participant to consult with the participant's attorney before proceeding with the evaluation. The psychologist must ultimately respect the right of any participant to withhold information from the evaluation. Whether the refusal to provide information should itself be made known to others, must be decided by the psychologist based on the relevance of such refusal to the issues before the court in the particular case at hand; and
   5. (e) recognize the possibility that the need to disclose information obtained in the evaluation may limit the validity of data acquired during the evaluation by inhibiting the free and complete disclosure of information by participants.

Authorizing statute(s): 37-1-131, 37-1-136, MCA

Implementing statute(s): 37-1-131, 37-1-136, MCA

History: NEW, 2001 MAR p. 1742, Eff. 9/7/01; TRANS, from Commerce, 2004 MAR p. 2282; AMD, 2017 MAR p. 1654, Eff. 9/23/17; AMD, 2026 MAR, Notice No. 2026-151, Eff. 5/9/26.