Family Law Top 3 SENE Issues – Child Custody
Social Early Neutral Evaluation (SENE) addresses Family Law issues involving a child or children. The 3 most important issues addressed during a typical SENE include 1) Physical Custody 2) Legal Custody 3) Parenting Time. In Hennepin County, and throughout the Twin Cities, SENE cases are usually handled by a team consisting of one male and one female evaluator, both of whom have considerable Family Law experience; one evaluator may have a mental health background (such as a psychologist or social worker). The SENE process typically begins within one month after the first court appearance (also referred to as the Initial Case Management Conference or ICMC). The SENE process is completely confidential, except in certain rare examples.
“Legal custody” refers to the right to make decisions about how to raise the child, including decisions about education, health care, religious training and certain activities.
“Physical custody” refers to the right to make decisions about the routine day-to-day activities of the child and where the child lives.
The SENE process has been adopted by Family Courts in all counties in the metro area including Hennepin, Anoka, Scott, Dakota, Ramsey, Carver, Wright and Washington. Attorney & Mediator Randall A. Smith conducts Court Ordered SENE evaluation work and is on SENE rosters in several Twin Cities counties. The benefit of using the SENE (and FENE) process is that it gives the parties a neutral evaluation of their case at the onset, in a confidential environment, and before the parties have spent considerable financial resources on the case. Most Judges are proponents of using the SENE process in Divorce and Family Law cases, as it tends to assist the parties with the resolution of disputes related to children.
Located in the historic Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, Lake Harriet Law Office represents clients in Minneapolis, Edina, Bloomington, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Southwest Minneapolis, Linden Hills, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, St. Paul, Scott County, Washington County, Anoka County, Carver County and throughout the Twin Cities.
Please call 612-750-4843 or complete the Contact Us form to schedule an office consultation.