What to Expect at a Minnesota Divorce Trial

If you’ve tried to settle through formal and informal means and yet some (or all) of your divorce issues remain unresolved, the ultimate recourse is to have the judge make decisions. This only happens in about 3% of all Minnesota divorces, but you have to be ready for this on the contingency that it arises. There are only ever two ways to resolve divorce issues: either through agreement or trial before the judge (There are no jury trials in Minnesota divorces).

If you have a really good divorce attorney, you can expect the following things. If you do not recognize these things amongst the attorney that you do have, you should not rely upon them to give you a good chance of getting the judge to rule in your favor.

As early as 90 days before trial, but certainly no later than 60 days, your attorney they should be able to tell you every task that they’re going to be doing between then and trial. In other words, they should have a checklist correlated with a calendar so that they can tell you by what date they’re doing each of the trial preparations. 90 to 60 days out there shouldn’t be a circumstance where they haven’t thought it through yet or they don’t have a system for this.

40 to 60 days before trial they should be able to show you how all the links in the chain are connected. By this I mean these chain links: 

1. what are the key facts that you have in each issue, 
2. what your position is on that issue, 
3. the relevant facts the other side has, 
4. what the other side’s position is on that issue, 
5. what the law is on that issue, 
6. why the statute and any case law favor your facts & position and 
7. why the other side does not have the facts and position that are legally supported, and 
8. what exact divorce terms you want ordered on that issue in your divorce decree. 

You want them to be able to explain that chain of 8 links for each one of your issues.

Frankly, you should have already had these discussions with your attorney; how else could you have gone to mediation or a moderated settlement conference without these discussions? While you were not facing trial at that time, the same reasoning applied – you wouldn’t have been able to make a sound settlement without this understanding. Regardless 60 days out from trial there’s no reason why your attorney shouldn’t be able to walk you through these.

Similarly, because of that analysis, they can tell you what exhibits they plan on submitting to the court. These are the documents will help you prove the connected links. For instance, if you have $2 million in a 401(k), they’re going to need the statement to prove that. Hence, there should be a lot of exhibits well-organized and well-prepared as set forth on the exhibit list that your attorney prepared.

In the weeks before trial your attorney should work with you to develop your testimony script. These are going to be the questions that they’re going to be asking you at trial so the judge can hear your answers. Based on how you two prepare and tweak those questions, all of your answers address the facts needed to supplement your exhibits to prove that chain of 8 links for each of the issues. Ahead of trial you can expect your attorney to take a couple of hours over a few sessions with you to get that sorted out. The same goes for any other witnesses that your attorney is going to call on your behalf at trial.

In the wake of the pandemic, most of the Twin Cities trials are being held in person; these events are too important to rely upon video testimony. Hence, in the courtroom, you are going to have several roles: one as a bystander as you watch your attorney conduct the trial and you see what transpires. Another to pass written questions and notes to your attorney to help them be able to do their work better. At some point you’re going to testify — you’ll be sworn in, take the stand, and answer questions by not only your attorney but the opposing counsel. And you’re there to professionally represent yourself so that the court lay eyes on you, assess your credibility, and for you to hold yourself out as someone that deserves the legal relief that you seek.

Do not expect any sort of opening statements, the likes of which you may have seen in courtroom dramas, nor any closing statements generally in divorce trials. Rather, the judge will likely give the attorneys several weeks after trial to submit written arguments and proposed divorce orders that summarize the testimony and exhibits and lays out those 8 chain links for each issue. These written submissions stand in place of any sort of verbal closing argument.

Shortest trial settings are only a couple of hours, although a half day in court is only three hours, so a half day setting is common for a single or several small contested issues. Otherwise, a full day is usually starts between 8:00 and 9:00 AM, has a break at noon, resumes at 1:00 or 1:30 PM, and goes to 4:30 PM.

If you have issues with your attorney, discuss the above concerns well in advance of 90 days from trial. In other words, ASAP. If you looking to change your representation and you come to us wanting us to do your trial, we need you to contact us much farther before trial than 90 days. Any period less than 90 days is often too short a time period for us to get up to speed with all of the facts. It’s really only viable if there are limited issues available for trial, such as spousal maintenance with all else resolved in writing. In that circumstance, there’s a good likelihood we can do all of the above for you and do it well. 

But this is less about self-serving promotion as it is about warning anyone reading this: if you need to seek any other attorney to take over, know that any other attorney is going to be similarly hamstrung with just two months to get fully read in on your case and do all the above steps well. Hence, this warning serves you for whoever you’re looking to hire to salvage your divorce, protect your children, and help you make sure you can thrive in the years to come.