Can Grandparents Get Custody?

March 4, 2014 By 1 Comment
Grandparents Rights

Grandparent Rights In Minnesota One of my most popular topics is grandparent visitation (which can be read here).  Let me start by saying the quick answer to that question is: it’s hard. Grandparent Custody Under the law a grandparent in Minnesota can get custody but it’s hard, and it’s supposed to be hard.  Grandparents are not viewed the same as a parent they can’t step in and say the child would be better off with them than mom and dad.  Instead, the grandparent must prove that the parents aren’t fit to be parents.  This can be for a variety of …

Filed Under: Grandparent Rights

Is Facebook Causing Divorces?

February 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Facebook and Divorce

Facebook and Divorce In addition to its effect on many other parts of our daily lives, Facebook now appears to be taking over even our divorces.  Over 30 percent of divorce pleadings now contain the word “Facebook.”  What’s going on here?  Are we so attached to Facebook that we can’t imagine completing a task without it?  (I recently saw an online legal question-and-answer session in which a woman asked whether she could serve her husband with divorce papers via Facebook.  The answer, should you be wondering, is no.)  Or, is our increased use of social media somehow causing divorce? This …

Filed Under: Basic Divorce Questions, Child Custody

Holidy Custody Battles

January 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Picture of Happily Divorced family

Keeping the Peace: Holiday Custody Battles 101 A child custody proceeding can be a lengthy affair even when the parties involved are relatively amicable towards each other.  When they’re not so amicable, “lengthy” can quickly extend to a “War and Peace” level.  And it’s not just the official legal proceedings that can drag on and on; once the court orders are made, there’s still the process of getting both you and your ex to go along with the new custody and visitation routine that has been decided on. This routine often goes in for an extra layer of contention around …

Filed Under: General

Same-Sex Marriage Support Gets a Hat Trick: Laws found unconstitutional in Ohio, Utah, and New Mexico

January 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Who Keeps The Rock?

Same-Sex Marriage Support Gets a Hat Trick: Laws found unconstitutional in Ohio, Utah, and New Mexico It was a good week in the courts for supporters of same-sex marriage rights. Over a span of four days, not one but three different courts came down with favorable decisions towards same-sex marriage. Each of the decisions arose from slightly different reasoning, but taken together, they suggest a pretty clear trend for future litigation over same-sex marriage laws. First up, on December 19, was the New Mexico state Supreme Court. The case at issue there was about whether the state’s statutory scheme denying …

Filed Under: Current Divorce Events Tagged With: ,

Getting Married In Jail?

December 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment
minnesota bride and groom

It’s your right to get married…even if you’re in jail This could also be called Five Brides Go To Court.  No, it’s not a budget summer movie of dubious quality, it’s a real lawsuit from Missouri.  Missouri (like a lot of states) had a law which required that each applicant for a marriage license sign the application in the presence of the recorder of deeds or their deputy.  That sounds fine, right?  The problem is, it means that one of the license applicants can’t be in prison, since they wouldn’t be able to sign in front of the recorder (County Recorders …

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When Do I Start The Divorce?

October 11, 2013 By 1 Comment
They Need a Minnesota Divorce Lawyer

When Do I Call A Divorce Lawyer? This is always a tough question to answer because, believe it or not, I’m not happy when people get divorced! Yes, I know I make my living as a divorce attorney and I still have a few student loans that need to be paid, but one of my favorite phone calls is when a client calls and tells me that it looks like they are getting back together and please stop the process.  Because of this, I believe that it must be the client’s choice when they should get divorced, not the lawyers. …

Filed Under: Basic Divorce Questions, Dividing Property Tagged With: , , ,

Death Of A Legend: The Kirby Puckett Divorce.

October 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Kirby Puckett

A Look Back at Minnesota Twin Kirby Puckett’s Divorce It was 10 years ago this past month or so so that Minnesota Twins Fans woke up and learned that our favorite little outfielder, the plucky fireplug who was the perfect major league ballplayer, was, perhaps,  not quite so perfect.  Of course, I’m talking about Kirby Puckett and his legal troubles.  Kirby, who needs absolutely no introduction to anyone vaguely familiar with the Minnesota Twins or Major League Baseball, was charged with sexual assault of his past longtime mistress at a dance club in the Minneapolis suburbs (which the stall where …

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Child Support & Dependency Exemptions

June 11, 2013 By 2 Comments
Taxes Can Be Fun?

Who Gets To Claim The Kids After The Divorce? It’s not uncommon for there to be some dispute about who gets to claim the children for tax purposes.  Over the years I have heard many myths about who gets to claim what for taxes, some people think it’s automatically split equally, others say that if you pay child support you get to claim the kids every year, both of these are only partially correct. First, let’s look at the IRS regulations.  The Internal Revenue Code 152(c)(3)(a) says that the custodial parent gets to claim the child unless the parent “affirmatively …

Filed Under: Basic Divorce Questions, Child Support, Finances and Divorce Tagged With: , ,

Child Support: Soviet Style

June 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Picture of Russian child support

Parenting, Soviet-Style–in the U.S. Or, how much money do you really have for child support?   If a married couple in Minnesota gets a divorce and child support is awarded, the amount awarded largely depends on the parties’ incomes.  So, say you’re a soon-to-be ex-husband and the court is awarding child support to your ex-wife.  If you want to minimize your child support obligation, what do you do?  What can you do?  You could always move to Bora Bora and change your name, but that’s not very responsible or ethical.  Perhaps a better and more appropriate way to do this …

Filed Under: Child Custody, Child Support, Current Divorce Events Tagged With: ,

Minnesota Adopts Freedom to Marry Law

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
MN Gov siging gay marriage amendment

by Jason Kohlmeyer Gay Marriage Is Now The Law Of The Land In Minnesota.  On Tuesday, May 14, Governor Dayton signed into law Minnesota’s “Freedom to Marry Act,” making Minnesota the 12th state to permit same-sex marriage.  Minnesota was previously the first state to reject a constitutional amendment which would have defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.  After the defeat of that amendment, lawmakers went to work to enact legislation which would affirmatively allow gay marriages.  The newly-passed law will take effect August 1. What does the new law say? Minnesota law previously stated explicitly that …

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