Minnesota Early Neutral Evaluation Process

The Hennepin County Family Court created the Hennepin County Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE) process in order to create a way in which divorcing parties could receive a neutral opinion of what the potential outcome of their divorce proceedings might be if the case moves forward to a trial judge. The ENE process started with custody issues. Hennepin County 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. The ENE process avoids disputes by allowing the parents to step back from the situation and look at the situation by understanding the potential outcome. The process had such great success that it has expanded to include financial issues as well. Attorneys are trained in the early neutral evaluation process so that they can perform such evaluations. The ENE process has expanded to other Minnesota counties such as Ramsey, Washington, and Dakota.

How Evaluation Process Works

The parties may be asked at the ICMC if they wish to participate in the early neutral evaluation process. In any other county in Minnesota, the process is taken care of the outside of court rather than through the court services department. During the early neutral evaluation process, the facts of the case are presented to an Early Neutral Evaluator. 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.

Minneapolis Divorce 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 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, you can have a much better outcome than you would otherwise.