An existing Minnesota statute requires parents who cannot agree to the terms of divorce related to their children to attend state-approved online or classroom training. If enacted, a new law might require the training as a condition of filing for divorce. Required or not, this training can educate parents on issues they may not expect.
Continue Reading Child Custody Lawyers Say Divorcing Parents May End Up in School
Minnesota law allows the parties to a divorce to make a claim for attorney’s fees, and other costs, from the other side, in certain situations.
Prenuptial agreements allow the parties to a forthcoming marriage to “re-write” the laws of marital dissolution, so long as the prenup is executed in a procedurally fair way, and is substantively fair at the time of enforcement. But what is really involved in crafting a prenuptial agreement? This post addresses the wide-ranging issues you’ll encounter.
Continue Reading Minnesota Prenuptial Agreements: A Summary of Key Issues to Consider
Jason Brown, of the founding attorneys with the Brown Law Offices, P.A., recently served on the faculty of Minnesota Continuing Legal Education’s “New Lawyer Experience.” Jason was asked to present on a wide range of divorce and family law issues, including custody, child support and spousal maintenance.
In recent months, the legislature passed (and the governor signed into a law) a bill that amends Minnesota’s custody standards. In addition to a revised “best interest of the child” standard, judges must now apply the relevant statutory criteria with nine new provisions to guide them:
The court must make detailed findings on
Nothing is more important than the best interests of the children of divorce. While Minnesota courts can dictate child custody, parenting time and support, parents who can reach agreement through court-approved parenting plans can negotiate more flexibility that better meets the needs of the children and the whole family.
Continue Reading The Parenting Plan: A Flexible Alternative to a Court Order
Step-parent adoption, in Minnesota, involves four key steps: (1) termination of parental rights; (2) a petition for adoption; (3) background checks by court services; and (4) a final hearing. The first step in the process of step-parent adoption, a termination of parental rights, is the most challenging aspects of these cases. The very nature of a step-parent adoption presumes that a child’s biological parent (typically, but not necessarily, the father) has been denied the ongoing right to a parent/child relationship. Termination of parental rights …
Continue Reading An Overview of Step-Parent Adoption in Minnesota
Once a divorce decree has been entered in Minnesota, there are only a limited number of situations in which a party to the action can re-open (or seek to vacate) it. To be clear, to “re-open” a decree represents an attempt to change something (like a property settlement) that is otherwise final in nature. This is distinguished from a motion to “modify” custody, parenting time, child support or spousal maintenance. There are seven legal principles that provide a basis to re-open: (1) clerical error; (2) fraud; (3) mistake; (4) newly discovered …
Continue Reading Standards for Re-Opening a Minnesota Divorce Decree
Trial. In family court, it may be the most difficult thing a litigant can experience. The time, cost and emotion involved in litigating a case can be significant – not to mention the unpredictability of leaving your future in the hands of a stranger in a black robe.
The good news is that in Minnesota
Jurisdiction and venue are two issues that serve as an undercurrent to Minnesota divorce and family law cases.
While not typically a “front and center” problem, it is important to recognize that the outcome of your case can hinge on where a case is handled, or whether the court has jurisdiction over it at all.