As every new parent knows, welcoming a new child into the family can be a little overwhelming. There’s so much to learn and so much adjusting to do (often on much less sleep than you’re used to!). But in addition to learning to secure car seats a…
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Adoption is a wonderful way to begin or grow your family, and there are many different types of adoption. One question that often comes up in discussions of adoption is, “What is second parent adoption? Is it the same thing as stepparent adoption?…
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If you’ve spent any time at all reading law blogs, you may have noticed that they often follow a certain format. The blog will ask a question, answer it with “it depends,” and then go on to talk about just what the answer depends on. It’s ref…
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As adults, we tend to take it for granted that we have control over our life decisions, both minor (like what to make for dinner) and major (where we will live, and with whom). As parents, we make these decisions for our children. But what happens wh…
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In recent years, an increasing number of people have incorporated trusts into their estate planning. Trusts are a popular estate planning tool in part because they avoid the probate process and give the creator of the trust (called the grantor, settl…
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Sometimes, spouses agree on the need to end their marriage, and beginning the divorce process is uneventful. But often, one spouse wants the divorce and the other doesn’t. A question we often hear is, “What happens if I refuse to sign the divorce…
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Every marriage is different; so is every divorce. It only makes sense that there be different options to resolve divorce and other family law disputes. When most people think of divorce, they imagine a courtroom trial. The truth is that there are sev…
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Parenting time is essential to keeping a child’s relationship with both parents strong when parents live in different households. What is now called “parenting time” was once commonly referred to as “visitation.” The term was changed becaus…
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Divorce is a stressful process, and the last thing most people want when it’s over is to spend more time with a lawyer. We understand, and we don’t take that personally! Unfortunately, if you didn’t update your estate plan when you filed for di…
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No-fault divorce has been available in Minnesota for nearly five decades, which means that it has been state law for longer than most Minnesotans have been married. Even so, we encounter a lot of misconceptions about what no-fault divorce is and how…
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Parental alienation involves sustained efforts by one parent (the alienating parent) to turn a child against the other parent (the targeted parent). In effect, the alienating parent engineers the child’s rejection of the other parent. This is gener…
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One of the most challenging issues for parents after a divorce or breakup is introducing a new partner to the children. When it’s your partner, you can decide whether the time is right, and how your partner will interact with your children. But wha…
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We’ve all seen dramatic moments in movies or television shows in which a judge thunders, “You’re in contempt!” followed by a participant in a court proceeding being removed from the courtroom, presumably to a jail cell to think about their mi…
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If you have never been involved in probating an estate, you may not be very familiar with the process. If you have served as a personal representative of an estate, you may be more familiar with probate than you want to be. This can be time-consuming…
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Going through a divorce or other family law case is stressful all on its own. But what happens when you have multiple family law cases going on at once or have a criminal or administrative case that intersects with your family law cases? How do you d…
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