Divorce is difficult for the adults going through it, but as tough as it may be, adults have a couple of things going for them: they have some measure of control over the situation, and they are, well, adults. It can be easy to forget, in the midst o…
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In Minnesota, it used to matter a great deal, on multiple levels, how a parent’s custodial relationship to his or her child was described. Custody labels affected child support and a parent’s ability to move out of state. Changes in Minne…
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When Minnesota parents divorce or separate, their relationship doesn’t end. Instead, it transforms from a romantic relationship into a co-parenting relationship, in which the children are the focus of the parents’ interactions with each o…
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If you have a child with another person, whether you’re divorced or have never been married, you know that it is impossible to completely sever ties with your co-parent so long as both of you want to have a relationship with your child. Almost…
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When is a father not a father? In Minnesota, the answer is sometimes, “when he’s not married to his child’s mother.” That is to say, even if a man is a biological father, if he’s not married to his child’s mother,…
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Minnesota, like other states, operates on the premise that it is in a child’s best interests to have regular, frequent, and meaningful contact with both parents. While it’s difficult to argue with this premise, the way parents and courts…
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Every nine seconds in this country, a woman is battered by a spouse or intimate partner. The American Medical Association (AMA) and FBI estimate that between three and four million women are battered each year in the United States. In Minnesota in 20…
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Its getting to be that time of year again, back to school. Which for some parents is a great relief, but for separated parents it can be quite stressful. What happens when you have joint legal custody and you disagree with your ex about where your ch…
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We’ve all heard the statistic: roughly half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. This translates to one divorce every thirteen seconds, and well over 6,000 divorces every single day. Looking at the big picture, divorce is a com…
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Everyone understands that divorce is hard on the couple whose marriage is ending, and of course for any children they may have. Fewer people think about the impact of a divorce on the parents of the divorcing husband and wife, but watching your adult…
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The most preposterous statement I ever heard from another attorney was that clients who hire me expect me to use big words that they (the clients) do not understand. I think that attorney was trying to cop out of explaining our legal shorthand or jar…
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You may have seen cars sporting bumper stickers that say, “If you think education’s expensive, try ignorance.” There could just as easily be one that says, “If you think hiring an attorney is expensive, try representing yourse…
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For many people, the idea of budgeting–for anything–is unpleasant. Budgeting involves putting pencil to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and taking a hard look at finances in black and white. That hard look can reveal realities that are dif…
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We’ve already discussed in this space the basics of awarding spousal maintenance in Minnesota, but we’ve touched only briefly on the concept of modifying spousal maintenance. Normally, once an award of spousal maintenance has been granted…
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What is Spousal Maintenance? Spousal maintenance is simply what used to be known as alimony. In Minnesota, there are two types of spousal maintenance: Short-Term or Temporary Spousal Maintenance is paid to one spouse by another for a specified period…
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