Ellen Gay Niermann

Gay was hired as my divorce CFI. Not only did she not do as the judge asked her to determine extremely important and critical information during a nasty custody battle, she lied about her involvement, her due diligence as research and findings as well as charged a completely absurd amount of money f...or a few hours of actual work. Avoid her like the plague, unless you like wasting your time and money.

Short and sweet: This has been the most unethical, sexist, man-hating experience of my life. Clearly her drinking, and biased opinions are more important than these children she's subjecting to abuse in each case she fails to "inspect". Do NOT waste your money. A year into it, and 1 hour total spent ...talking to either side, and no actual investigation after. Hiring her is like letting a sociopathic killer into your home. She'll destroy everything, and not even care.

I would not recommend her as a CFI to anybody !!!! When I went thru custody battle for my child, Gay did not asses fair judgment in my case. She believed somebody who lied and made it look all nice and peachy ( and who voluntarily at the end of the case settled for 1/3 of the time that she originall...y suggested) and wasted our time and money. It did take 3 months to complete the reports, which could be easily be done and filed within 30 day period. She needs to learn how determine who is a truly wants time with the child and who is just putting on a show.

We employed the services of Ms. Niermann a few months ago in a case involving a contentious divorce where an abusive husband with a history of domestic abuse was purposefully alienating the children from their mother and I. After taking more than three months to complete her report (and charging us m...ore fees in the process for an "extended investigation"), Gay clearly did not manage to make a concerted look into the domestic violence history of the husband—a serious matter, considering Colorado's Best Interests of Child statutes which have very specific concerns regarding any present or past history of abuse in a parent. She said she'd be in contact with the marriage counselor who could verify the abusiveness of the husband, but never managed to make this contact. Detailed letters and accounts of other family members were submitted, but it did not seem she paid much attention to them. As a result, the husband was able to achieve some custody over the children and continues, to this day, to create a hostile environment for us. I rated Gay two stars on trustworthiness because she did uphold fairly unbiased conduct in the investigation (or so I believe). Our case was unique in that it concerned elements of BDSM and the accusation by the father that we were exposing the children to our lifestyle (which was an outright and knowing lie by him). She *did* see through the "inaccuracies" of the husband on that count and told me specifically that our sex life was none of her concern during our talks. Kudos to Gay for that. She looses points on trust, however, considering that she overcharged us and did not competently look into the domestic violence aspects of the husband, as she promised. That was a monumentally tragic mistake. I rated Gay one star on responsiveness because this investigation took far too long, and she didn't return calls or emails on a timely basis. Some messages and attempted calls were outright ignored. A folder that we put painstakingly together detailing all facts, including a copy of a DSS report supporting our position, seemed to have been shelved early on. She had to be reminded she even had the report to begin with. I rated Gay four stars on knowledgeable because I do think she knows the system very well. How well that knowledge of the system benefits her clients, however, seems a little up for grabs. She did manage to parse the lies of the alienating parent, so that was a plus. Her inability to compel the marriage counselor to corroborate the abusive history of the husband was a big ball drop on her part, so either her effort or knowledgability takes a hit there. I, personally, wonder why she did not order the counselor be subpoenaed by the court. I rated Gay two stars on keeping us informed. Between the long pockets of time in which we heard nothing, the waiting for calls back or recognition of our emails, and then suddenly charging us extra for extending the investigation (the reasons for which we are still unclear) this entire process felt very "black box." I understand that for reasons of preventing bias, some degree of distance in the investigator is necessary, but I didn't feel she communicated very well with us, or heard out our accurate and honest accounts. Bottom line? Gay kept our sex life out of court. That was good, and she should be applauded for that. But she failed in protecting the children from a manipulative and abusive father by not subpoenaing the marriage counselor or taking the words of others about him into more serious account. The result, now, is that the alienation of the children continues and the ex feels emboldened to continue on with his subversive agendas.

•I do not recommend Ellen Gay Niermann. •Gay handled my CFI Report. She was bias in court. Actually made justifying statements in cross examination on my ex-wife's behalf. My ex-wife was actually arrested for Domestic Violence and has a solid (with witnesses and charges) history, verifiable. My 11... year old and 13 year old boys actually testified to her that they were afraid of her... "She makes me scared" and it only gets worse from there. She made statements that were inappropriate and I quote, "I don't know how you got the state to pay for this but don't expect much, and "The state is paying for this so don't expect me to do anything, you need to provide me with anything you want me to know." Then she says to begin my statement.. I start with some valid and pertinent information from the beginning of our marriage, and she won't allow it. Actually tells me that won't be mean anything to me " I DON"T CARE" skip it and start [here]!! That does not indicate that she was neutral and represented my children. I gave her information that she neglected to address, and she did not include this in the report. These were detrimental witnesses and issues to my kids well being. She would not respond to emails, and played dumb about she lost my number and/or they gave me the wrong information. She then held on to the report until 48 hours (weekend) to turn it in... Oh the hum dingers still keep coming folks. She lied on the stand about not seeing documents or that she was talked to about documents that were presented by other parties, and made the recommendation as my ex be the primary and to include full decision making. We have the right to request copies of her investigation, I get them, and she was receiving information on this case from one of my wife's witnesses before the case was given to her... the recommendation to use her came from ex's attorney. I am accountable and willingly did agree to use her, we were blind, I had no idea person (Gay) in a position of this great of responsibility to represent the safety of my sons would blatantly act this negligently, knowing that I would see all the dates and times and conversations. I should have done more research. Obviously exercising my legal options from here. This site prohibits me from putting any personal information in this statement but if there are any EXTREMELY aggressive attorneys that want to get paid... I'll provide the evidence!!! Just call me!!! I would not recommend her.