What is the Matrimonial Early Settlement Panel?
This is a program run through the Court system that attempts to settle all issues involved in the dissolution of a marriage prior to a trial. Family Law Attorneys take turns as panelists to hear contested cases that are brought in on a designated day. The attorneys for each of the spouses will appear before the Matrimonial Early Settlement Panelists and present all issues. In most cases, the panelists will have reviewed an MESP Memo and therefore will have some familiarity with the issues. The Panelists will make their recommendations as to how they believe the issues should be resolved. This is then presented by the attorneys to their clients and assuming the recommendations (or modified recommendations) are accepted, in most cases the parties would immediately proceed to a Judge and the divorce can then be obtained on that day. If the matter does not settle at the MESP, in most cases, a trial date would be set on that day.
