Hey Vivian,
If you will get shocked by this only then what will you do after knowing that the cost of the evaluation is generally based upon the hourly fee of the evaluator and the hours spent completing it?
Thus, at an hourly fee of $150 to $200 per hour, the usual fee for doctoral level psychologists, the evaluation may be expected to cost from $750 to $1500 per person, if the following activities are included such as two or three interviews; Scoring and interpretation of several standardized personality and parenting measures; reading the background information; telephone consultation with attorneys, social workers, security sources of information; observation of interaction between the parent and child; Report preparation, etc.
Since, it is quite likely that the court testimony may or may not be required, since the written reports of the evaluations may lead to agreement between the parties.
However, if it is required, the cost per hour may be greater because of the interruption in the practice operation. In addition, you will likely be asked to provide retainer funds, and the time that is billed will likely be from portal to portal and may include review time, since the case material must be reviewed in order for the evaluator to testify competently.
Usually, this is indeed expensive, but the issues are critically important and the court will be able to make better decisions for your family if there is data upon which the decisions can be based. Also, nevertheless, if you and the child's other parent can work out suitable arrangements on your own for sharing the responsibility of rearing your children or being with your children , this would no doubt be a considerable savings and might well result in less stress and conflict, and even likely in better decisions. So the ball is entirely in your court!!