Katie Osborn — Psychologist in Nashville, TN

I’m writing this review to share my personal experience so other families and attorneys can make an informed decision. Dr. Katie Spirko served as the Rule 35 custody evaluator in my case. In my experience, the evaluation process was unusually lengthy—nearly 17 months from start to final report—which made the situation extremely difficult and stressful for my children. Despite the purpose of a custody evaluation being to assess a child’s best interests, I believe she spent minimal time with my children over that period. I am not aware of any contact with the children for approximately 10 months while our case was effectively on hold awaiting completion of the evaluation. Based on my research and understanding of generally recognized professional guidelines for child custody evaluations, and based on what I later learned from discussions with other evaluators and attorneys, the timeline and overall thoroughness in my matter did not align with what I understood to be typical or best practice. In my opinion, I also had concerns about neutrality in the process and conclusions. These are my personal impressions; I am not asserting that any court or licensing board has made a formal finding. I had significant concerns about billing practices, and in my experience, I found numerous billing issues to be unethical. I was billed on more than one occasion for “court appearances” on dates when, to my knowledge, we did not have a court date and were not in court, and late fees/interest were then assessed on those disputed charges. Additionally, although I understood that a contract capped the fees, charges continued beyond that cap, and late fees/interest, and penalties were added to amounts I dispute as being above the cap. Additionally, rather than simply sending me an invoice for the fees owed, Dr. Spirko filed a “Notice of Attorney’s Lien” in Chancery Court against me, even though—to the best of my knowledge—Dr. Spirko is not an attorney. According to communications through counsel, these billing issues were raised to Dr. Spirko and Dr. Spirko maintained that the invoice was correct and told my lawyer that if I did not pay the disputed bill she would “reevaluate her charges… and it would make it more expensive than it is now.” After speaking with other custody evaluators and attorneys and learning that several aspects of what I experienced were not considered “normal,” I felt obligated to file a complaint with the appropriate State of Tennessee licensing authorities so the concerns could be reviewed. I understand that a complaint is an allegation unless and until it is investigated and decided, but I believe the issues warranted official review. For that same reason, I feel an obligation to caution others. This review reflects only my personal experience and opinion. Based on what my children and I went through, I would not recommend using Dr. Spirko.