Are written reports essential in divorce cases?

"I've never seen a case where the valuation expert didn't submit a written report; a report that's been made available to the other side well before the trial," says Judge Howard Lipsey. Judge Jacquiline Silbermann says she always gets the reports admitted as evidence and reads them before "because I'm always trying to get to settlement and I can't find agreement if I don't
know what the experts are arguing." Judge Moshe Jacobius reminds appraisers that he's not allowed to read reports prior to a case, but that he'll "make sure that he gets it into evidence at some point" in the proceedings. "I need to read the reports, even if the lawyers initially don't want to let them in." Jay Fishman, who is moderating the judges' panel today, concludes that "written reports are essential for the judges."