I have many conversations with clients about how marital retirement assets are valued and divided. The law, for all intents and purposes, divides marital retirement assets at the date of marriage and then again at a valuation date during a Minnesota divorce action. The valuation date will not start until a petition for dissolution of marriage and a summons…
Although most people are not aware of it Minnesota law grants sole legal and physical custody to the mother of children who were born-out-of-wedlock. This means that fathers who have children with a woman they are not married to have inferior legal rights to their children because they are not married. This is often very difficult information for…
The Minnesota courts have almost purely mathematical calculation for establishing child support. Number one is that the courts takes into account gross income about the mother and the father. Gross income is based on W-2s, tax returns, or other evidence of gross yearly income. The court will sometimes take into account the last five years of gross…
When thinking about a Dakota County divorce, people need to be aware of the law as a relates to the division of marital assets and debts. What is a good example of a divisible marital asset? In Dakota County Minnesota one good example of a divisible asset and the divorce is a retirement account. A husband…
Generally there are two times when a who is asking for spousal maintenance will need to present his or her case to the judge. The first time is when the spouse is requesting temporary maintenance. The second time is a request at a final hearing – if necessary. How spousal maintenance is determined: In any…
A new opinion was issued by the Minnesota Supreme Court related to third-party and grandparent visitation. The reported opinion was Rohmiller v. Hart, A10-138 (Minn. 02/29/2012). In the case, the mother of a two-year-old child was killed in an accident. When the mother was killed, the child lived with the maternal grandparents in the State…
A divorce is a different legal proceedings than a legal separation. This is true in every state in the United States. A divorce has its own set of laws which govern how it proceeds through the legal system. The same goes for a legal separation. Put simply, a legal separation is just what it sounds…
