There are many optional provisions parents may include in their court order or parenting plan. One provision many parents choose to include is vacation parenting time. Parents may agree that each parent may have one or two weeks of consecutive or non-consecutive time for vacation with the children that will take priority over the regular parenting time schedule. This may or may not involve travel with the children. Several considerations should be made when creating a parenting plan to avoid pitfalls in the future. Some of these considerations may include: How much vacation parenting time may ..read more

Parents can create a holiday parenting time schedule that includes any religious or cultural observances, traditions, school breaks, and special events in their children’s lives. A holiday parenting time schedule takes priority over the regular parenting time and vacation parenting time schedules. It is important to balance past traditions with the creation of new ones when children of families are transitioning to two separate households. Ensuring the children have meaningful experiences during special occasions is important, and having a holiday parenting time schedule will help parents bett ..read more

Most Minnesota child support and spousal maintenance orders allow for a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) every two years. A COLA is an increase in the support/maintenance to account for the increase in the cost of living and is designed to ensure the amount of the support order keeps up with inflation. This adjustment applies only to basic support and spousal maintenance, not medical support or child care support. While this process adjustment can happen in any month as long as it has been two years from the last COLA, if the county is collecting the child support, it happens in the spring. If ..read more

When initiating a divorce matter, four documents will typically be filed with the Court: The Summons, Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, Confidential Information Form, and Certificate of Representation and Parties. The Summons is a document that tells the other party that a divorce matter has been initiated, contains some restraining provisions and provides a deadline for responding. The Petition is a document including the required facts of your case and what you will ask the Judge to order in the event the matter goes to trial. The Confidential Information Form lists the parties’ and chil ..read more

Many co-parents find that the holidays can be a struggle. Even when co-parents come to an agreement regarding holiday parenting time, it can be difficult when your children cannot join you for each holiday celebration. Routine and communication are both key to avoid confusion and resentment when navigating holiday parenting time. It is important to establish a holiday routine, whether that is the children spend time with one parent every Thanksgiving and with the other parent every Christmas, or whether the children alternate each year. This is beneficial to both the children and the parents t ..read more

Effective January 1, 2023, Minnesota’s Child Support Guidelines will be changing. Updates include changes to the basic child support table calculations, updates to the Self-Support Reserve, updates to how non-joint children affect calculations, elimination of interest on child support arrears effective 08/01/2022, and changes to requirements for child support arrears to be reported to credit reporting agencies. Once these new laws are placed into effect on January 1, 2023, your child support order will not be automatically reviewed. You must serve and file a motion to modify child support or ..read more

When a custody action is pending, it is more important than ever to communicate with the other parent in a respectful manner. As a rule of thumb, always assume you are being recorded while having conversations with them over the phone or in person. Recordings, videos, and text screenshots that show you are behaving inappropriately may be presented to the Judge and used against you in the custody case. This is a very emotional, stressful time in your life, but it is important to keep your cool and take the high road if/when conflict arises. Not only may certain conduct negatively affect the res ..read more

Conversations about what will happen to children during a divorce or custody matter are some of the most emotional conversations I have with clients. It’s difficult to imagine your own life and relationships changing but when part of that is less time with children or a change in how the time with children is structured it can be papalizing for a parent. Knowing the language an attorney or family law professional will use can help remove some of the confusion and allow you to focus on what is most important to you. Here are some terms frequently used in family law matter regarding children. &n ..read more

Determining support for children is a part of every divorce or custody matter that involves children. While there are guidelines for how to calculate support many of the terms used in these guidelines are not clear and can make figuring out support more complicated for a non-lawyer than it needs to be. The Department of Human Services has provided a child support calculator for the public to use that can be found here: Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator. Clicking on many of the terms on that site will provide you with a definition and guidance. Here is a summary of a few of the term ..read more

“In my opinion, the proposal in the J&D for a 4-hour ROFR, after we attended the SENE and agreed that there would be no first right of access or compensatory time and signed a binding mediated agreement is completely disingenuous on the part of Petitioner.” – WHAT?!?!?!?!? If Latin, legalese, and lots of family law abbreviations are not your preferred languages, communicating with your lawyer can make a confusing stressful time even more so. Just the process of talking to someone about something as personal as a divorce or change in family circumstances is hard enough, then you hear things ..read more