We are licensed Florida psychologists court-appointed in the 19th Circuit and four others. Our nearest office is Jupiter, 39 miles south. We evaluate at the St. Lucie County Courthouse, the jail, and detention facilities across the Treasure Coast.
How Court-Appointed Expert Work Is Assigned In The 19th Circuit
Appointments come off a registry maintained by the Office of the Court Administrator, and experts are appointed on a rotating basis. You do not pick the evaluator by calling one. The court does, from a list.
That process was rewritten this year. On 6 April 2026 the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit issued Administrative Order 2026-05, Selection and Payment of Court-Appointed Expert Witnesses, superseding an order that had stood since 2017.
The order says why, in language courts rarely use in public:
The Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court has found it increasingly difficult to locate qualified experts willing to perform services relating to Guardianship Examining Committee and Developmental Disability Examining Committee requirements.
And it names the cause. Experts “are unwilling to accept court appointments at the rate structure adopted almost a decade ago.”
Read that as a supply problem. The 19th Circuit could not staff certain expert roles at 2017 money, so in April it raised the rates and restated who qualifies.
To sit on that registry, an expert must:
- hold at least three years of experience in their area of expertise
- have completed forensic evaluator training
- be a psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or physician under Florida Statute 916.115
- bill on the Uniform Invoice for Expert Witness Services issued by the Office of the State Courts Administrator
Three years is a floor, not a benchmark. Our four psychologists hold licenses issued between 2007 and 2014.
Why The Date On A Competency Evaluation Now Decides Cases
An evaluation that is not contemporaneous with trial will not support a competency finding in this district. The Fourth District Court of Appeal said so in February.
In Castro v. State, 4D2025-0134, decided 11 February 2026, the Fourth DCA reversed a competency determination because the trial court leaned on a November 2022 evaluation without holding a new hearing or securing a valid stipulation. The court had ordered an additional evaluation back in 2022. It was never completed. The finding came anyway, and it did not survive.
The holding:
A competency determination is not supported by competent, substantial evidence when it relies on evaluations that are not contemp[oraneous] with trial.
Castro came out of Palm Beach County. It governs Fort Pierce anyway, because the Fourth District covers St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River, and Okeechobee.
The practical effect on a St. Lucie case is timing. A stale evaluation in the file is not a shortcut, it is an appellate issue. If your client was evaluated eighteen months ago and the posture has changed, the cheap move is to reuse the report. The correct move is a current evaluation or a clean stipulation on the record.
This is also the most common reason we get a call from a Treasure Coast attorney: not a first evaluation, but a second one, because the first one aged out.
What We Evaluate
Each evaluation answers one legal question. The testing battery is selected for that question, not applied from a template.
Criminal
- Competency to proceed, adult and juvenile
- Criminal responsibility, insanity defense
- Competency to waive Miranda rights
- Mitigation, including downward departure and diminished capacity
- Violence risk assessment
- Psychosexual and sexual behavior risk assessment
- Expert witness testimony
Juvenile
- Competency to proceed
- Violence and sexual risk assessment
- Expert witness testimony
Family
- Child custody and time-sharing evaluations
- Parental capacity assessments
- Attachment and bonding assessments
- Expert witness testimony
Civil and personal injury
- Personal and emotional injury evaluations
- Psychological factors in physical trauma, including traumatic brain injury, motor vehicle, and catastrophic injury
- Independent medical examinations
- Competency and capacity for wills, powers of attorney, and guardianship
- Assessment of malingering and deception
Immigration
- Extreme and exceptional hardship
- Political asylum
- Spousal abuse and VAWA
- Competency to participate in immigration proceedings
Guardianship and capacity work deserves a note. The 19th Circuit’s own April order says it struggles to staff Guardianship and Developmental Disability Examining Committees. If you have a St. Lucie guardianship matter waiting on an examining committee, that is why.
Meet the Forensic Psychologists at FC PsychExperts
Dr. Cathy Colet
Forensic PsychologistDr. Cathy Colet is a Licensed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and founder of Forensic and Clinical PsychExperts, LLC.
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Dr. Lauren Miller
Clinical and Forensic NeuropsychologistDr. Miller has nearly 20 years of experience as a clinician, consultant, lecturer, and writer.
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Dr. Matthew J. Jalazo
Forensic PsychologistDr. Matthew J. Jalazo is a licensed psychologist who has practiced forensic psychology on a full-time basis for the last fifteen years.
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Dr. Christopher J. Beltran
Forensic PsychologistDr. Beltran is a Licensed Forensic Psychologist with over twenty-five years of experience in criminal and family law
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Who Retains Us, And When We Say No
We are retained by criminal defense and prosecution, plaintiff and defense civil attorneys, family law attorneys, immigration attorneys, agencies, courts directly, and private individuals.
We also turn cases down. On the first call we scope the referral question and tell you plainly whether we can produce an objective opinion or whether we cannot take it. An evaluation that will not hold up on cross helps nobody, least of all the person paying for it.
Getting to Fort Pierce
Our Jupiter office is at 210 Jupiter Lakes Blvd, Unit 4-201, Jupiter, FL 33458, 39 miles south of Fort Pierce, a straight run up I-95. Our Fort Lauderdale office is at 1451 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 300.
We conduct evaluations on-site at the St. Lucie County Courthouse in downtown Fort Pierce, at the county jail, at juvenile detention, and at correctional and ICE facilities across the Treasure Coast. Records go by secure transfer. Attorney consultations happen by phone or video unless you want to meet.
The 19th Judicial Circuit covers Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie counties. A Fort Pierce case and a Stuart case run through the same registry and the same administrative order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have an office in Fort Pierce?
No. Our nearest office is Jupiter, 39 miles south on I-95. We travel to St. Lucie County for evaluations and conduct them at the courthouse, the jail, and detention facilities. If your case needs a local walk-in address, Shanlis has one on South 25th Street.
How does a psychologist get court-appointed in the 19th Circuit?
Through the Court-Appointed Expert Witness Registry maintained by the Office of the Court Administrator. Appointments rotate. Under Administrative Order 2026-05, signed 6 April 2026, an expert needs at least three years of experience in their field, completed forensic evaluator training, and licensure as a psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or physician under Florida Statute 916.115.
Does health insurance cover a forensic evaluation?
Almost never. A court evaluation is a legal expense, not medical treatment. Therapy may be billable to insurance. The evaluation used in court usually is not.
Can we reuse an evaluation from a previous year?
Be careful. In Castro v. State, 4D2025-0134, decided 11 February 2026, the Fourth DCA reversed a competency finding because the trial court relied on a 2022 evaluation without a new hearing or a valid stipulation. The Fourth District covers St. Lucie County. An evaluation that is not contemporaneous with trial is an appellate issue waiting to happen.
Is “forensic psychologist” a separate license in Florida?
No. It is a specialization built on the standard Florida psychologist license, prefix PY, under Chapter 490. Verify any evaluator’s PY number on the Department of Health site and ask for their testimony record in your circuit before you retain them.
Which circuits have your psychologists testified in?
The 1st, 15th, 17th, 19th, and 20th Judicial Circuits, for prosecution and defense in criminal matters and for both sides in civil matters.