Court-appointed expert

A court-appointed expert is the specialist whose opinion the court seeks on issues requiring special or technical knowledge outside the law. Account examinations, fault apportionment, signature analysis and valuations are typical fields; experts may not be consulted on questions of law.

Appointments are made from registers kept by regional expert boards, and the report is filed within the period set by the court. The parties may object within the statutory period; the court may request a supplementary report or appoint a new panel. Parties may also submit opinions they obtain from specialists of their own choosing.

The report does not bind the judge, yet technical findings form the backbone of judgments in practice. Objections should therefore rest on concrete technical grounds rather than mere disagreement with the conclusion. Experts issuing untruthful reports incur both criminal and civil liability.