Dakota County Law Blog

A family law blog with real world legal advice

In the family law arena, Minnesota contempt of court orders are often necessary.   Why?  Because people say they will do something, it gets entered on a court order, and then they don’t do it. It should be stated that Minnesota Contempt Court Orders are an extreme remedy and other avenues of dispute resolution should…

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If you are considering a Minnesota adoption, there are a few things which you should know.  Foremost, you need to understand the initial legal requirements behind a Petition for Adoption. A Petition for Adoption must be filed in all Minnesota adoptions.  In order to file a petition, the child to be adopted must be placed…

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In Dakota County MN, the courts are now requiring that couples wanting a Dakota County divorce to go through an early neutral evaluation process. The program is aimed at lessening the burden on the court docket while simultaneously connecting divorcing couples, lawyers, judges, and neutrals early in the divorce process.  In this way, the courts…

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This post is meant to give an overview of Minnesota probate law as it relates to priority and qualification of executors or personal representatives. In either a formal or informal estate administration or “probate”, a personal representative must be appointed to represent a deceased person’s estate in Minnesota – this is true for Dakota County or any…

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Under Minnesota adoption law, in most circumstances, the biological parents a child must give their consent if their child will be adopted by someone else. Parental consent is required unless one of the following exceptions are met: A parent is not entitled to notice under Minnesota law; A parent has abandoned the child or children as defined…

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Under the current Minnesota law, two parties are allowed to file a joint petition for divorce in Minnesota. Furthermore, it is possible for an attorney to represent both parties in a joint-divorce.  However, lawyers know that much cuation should be taken on the part of the lawyer. This is because of the inherent conflict of…

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This post is aimed at explaining initial child support jurisdiction requirements in Minnesota. Before I get to far into explaining the Minnesota child support system, I want to direct any readers to the online calculator used by many, many lawyers and judicial personnel throughout the state.  The online calculator is at:  http://childsupportcalculator.dhs.state.mn.us/Calculator.aspx. I use that online calculator…

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The Minnesota Court of Appeals has issued a new decision in the case of Marriage of Jarvinen related to a father’s motion for modification of child-care expenses. In the opinion, the appellate court found that the Hennepin County District Court had erred when it determined that it did not have the authority to retroactively modify…

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