Minnesota Early Neutral Evaluation Process
The Hennepin County Family Court created the Hennepin County early neutral evaluation process in order to create a way in which divorcing parties could create a neutral opinion of what the potential outcome of their divorce proceedings should be if the case moves forward to a trial judge.
The beginnings of the process stood with custody issues. The court found that there were too many cases in which the parents would become overly emotional and the advocacy of their attorneys created custody disputes that could have been avoided. These disputes are avoided by allowing the parents to step back away from the situation and take a look at what the situation could be like by understanding the potential outcome. The process had such great success that it has been used to include financial issues as well. Attorneys are trained in the Hennepin County early neutral evaluation process so that they can perform such evaluations.
As of now, Hennepin County is the only county in Minnesota formally offering the neutral evaluation process.
How Evaluation Process Works
The parties may be asked in court if they wish to participate in the early neutral evaluation process. In any other counties in Minnesota, the process is taken care of outside of court rather than in court like in Hennepin County.
During the early neutral evaluation process, the facts of the case are presented to an Early Neutral Evaluator. It is possible for there to be more than one evaluator in a case. In most cases, there is a male and female evaluator. This is done to provide a male and female perspective on each case and to make sure that there is no bias present when determining the facts.
The team of evaluators listens to the facts and reviews what documents need to be presented and what are relevant in the case. The team then proceeds to discuss the potential outcome based on the law. The determination is then provided to the divorcing couple.
This is a process that can be used in conjunction with mediation or in the collaborative law process where there may be disagreements present between the two parties.
The Outcome In Court
The early neutral evaluation process does not take certain factors into account, such as those that may influence the outcome of the case. Those factors can include the judge that hears the case and the skills of the attorneys presenting the case to the court. Interpretation and application of the facts and of the law to the facts have an influence.
MN Divorce Lawyer & Attorney
If you’re seeking a favorable outcome in your divorce and you need experienced Minnesota divorce attorneys to take your case, you can call us at 1-888-575-LAWS or fill out the form on this website for your free initial consultation. We want to help you go on with your life and due to the early Neutral Evaluation Process in Hennepin County, you can have a much better outcome than you would otherwise.