FC PsychExperts provides court-qualified forensic psychological evaluations and expert testimony for Lake Worth Beach cases in Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit. We work from offices in Jupiter and Fort Lauderdale and take referrals from criminal defense attorneys, prosecutors, family-law and civil attorneys, immigration counsel, courts, and agencies. Florida License PY9058. Member of the APA, AFCC, ATSA, APSAC, and Physicians for Human Rights.
Is there a forensic psychologist located in Lake Worth Beach?
No forensic psychology practice has an office inside Lake Worth Beach. The psychologists who do real 15th Circuit court work serve the city from nearby offices, and that is normal for this kind of evaluation. Plan on a short drive, or confirm remote options up front.
Here is where Lake Worth Beach cases actually go. Lake Worth Beach sits in Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit, which covers all of Palm Beach County. Most felony and competency matters are heard at the main county courthouse,
FC PsychExperts covers Lake Worth Beach from two offices: Jupiter (210 Jupiter Lakes Blvd, Unit 4-201, Jupiter, FL 33458) and Fort Lauderdale (1451 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 300, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309). In-person interviews and testing happen at one of these offices, at a correctional facility, or at the courthouse, depending on the case. Remote and telehealth components are available for parts of the process where Florida law allows.
If you are searching Psychology Today for “forensic” providers tagged to Lake Worth, read the profiles closely. Many are therapists who treat anxiety, depression, or trauma, not psychologists who perform court evaluations and testify. Court evaluation and expert-witness work comes from practices that do it full time.
What a forensic psychologist does for a Lake Worth Beach case
A forensic psychologist answers one specific legal question with an evaluation a court will accept. The work is not therapy. It is an independent assessment tied to a legal standard, written for the judge, the attorneys, and the trier of fact.
We handle four broad areas across the 15th Circuit:
Criminal
– competency to proceed, criminal responsibility (insanity defense), competency to waive Miranda rights, mitigation, violence and sexual risk assessments, sexually violent predator evaluations, and capital sentencing.
Family
– parental capacity assessments, timesharing and custody evaluations, and social investigations, always weighted toward the best interest of the child.
Civil
– personal and emotional injury, independent medical examinations, psychological factors in physical trauma, guardianship and mental competency, civil commitment, and psychological autopsy.
Immigration
– extreme-hardship evaluations, asylum evaluations, and assessments in U-visa and VAWA matters.
Why forensic reports get excluded in Florida, and how ours are built to hold up
Florida is a Daubert state, so a forensic report is only as strong as the methodology behind it. The state’s expert-evidence rule, Florida Statute 90.702, was rewritten to the Daubert standard in 2013, and the Florida Supreme Court settled its statewide application in 2019. The trial judge acts as a gatekeeper over expert testimony. In our experience, reports get challenged when the foundation is thin: a methodology section that reads like a clinical chart note, methods that have not been tested or peer-reviewed, or no account of the known error rate. Under Daubert, those are the reliability factors a Florida judge weighs in deciding what a jury hears.
We build every report to the three statutory prongs: the opinion rests on sufficient facts and data, it is the product of reliable principles and methods, and those methods are applied reliably to the facts of the case. In practice that means a documented methodology section, published and validated instruments, validity testing built into every protocol, and a clear chain of reasoning from data to opinion.
The Daubert-Ready Expert Check
Before you retain any forensic psychologist for a 15th Circuit case, run this five-point check. It is the fastest way to separate a court-ready expert from a generalist, and most of it takes five minutes.
- License, verified and clean. Confirm the Florida license on the state portal, not the bio. Check status, expiration, and any discipline.
- Forensic-specific training, not just a license. Florida has no separate “forensic psychologist” license, so forensic skill comes from training and experience on top of standard licensure. Ask what that training is.
- Documented, reliable methodology. Ask whether the report names the instruments used, cites peer-reviewed methods, and addresses known error rates. These are the Daubert prongs in plain terms.
- Court-qualification history in the right circuit. Ask how many times the expert has been accepted to testify, and specifically in the 15th Circuit.
- Validity and malingering testing. Ask how the protocol screens for exaggeration, symptom over-reporting, and deception, and which validity measures are used.
How to verify a forensic psychologist’s license in five minutes
Every psychologist doing this work in Florida is licensed by the Florida Board of Psychology under the Department of Health, and you can confirm any license yourself for free. Marketing bios cannot give you what the state portal can.
- Take the license number from the provider’s site. FC PsychExperts lists PY9058.
- Go to the Florida Department of Health license verification portal (MQA Search Services).
- Enter the prefix and number with no spaces. You will see current status, expiration, and any disciplinary or administrative action.
- To file or check a complaint, use the Florida Health complaints and enforcement portal.
One more credential worth asking about is board certification in forensic psychology through the ABPP, a national credential a smaller number of experts hold.
Meet the Forensic Team
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
Read MoreFrequently Asked Questions
Do I need a forensic psychologist located in Lake Worth Beach?
No. There is no forensic practice based in Lake Worth Beach, and it does not affect your case. The work is tied to the 15th Judicial Circuit, and qualified experts serve the city from nearby offices in Jupiter and Fort Lauderdale, with remote components where the law allows.
What is competency to proceed?
Competency to proceed asks whether a defendant can consult with their attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and has a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings. It is about present ability, not the mental state at the time of the offense. That second question, criminal responsibility, is a separate evaluation.
Will the report hold up under Daubert?
No honest expert guarantees an outcome, because admissibility is the judge’s call. What we control is the foundation: documented methodology, validated instruments, and a clear chain of reasoning written to the Daubert prongs in Florida Statute 90.702.
Can the evaluation be done remotely?
Parts of the process can be handled by telehealth where Florida law permits, but in-person interviews and testing are usually required. We confirm what is possible for your specific case up front.