diff --git a/matlab/dynare_estimation_1.m b/matlab/dynare_estimation_1.m
index 589a5010b486c02f174a3d89ba4c44e78eaf0f09..f64960504aa9616d01a3287e9d8b27f37521e3cf 100644
--- a/matlab/dynare_estimation_1.m
+++ b/matlab/dynare_estimation_1.m
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ if ~isequal(options_.mode_compute,0) && ~options_.mh_posterior_mode_estimation
     if options_.mode_compute==5
         %get whether analytical Hessian with non-analytical mode-finding is requested
         newratflag=[];
-        if isfield(options_,'optim_opt')
+        if ~isempty(options_.optim_opt)
             options_list = read_key_value_string(options_.optim_opt);
             for i=1:rows(options_list)
                 if strcmp(options_list{i,1},'Hessian')