DIVORCE

The statistic often cited regarding divorce is that half of all marriages today end in this process. The divorce process is often very overwhelming for individuals going through it who are already dealing with the emotional toll of the loss of their marriage. They are now faced with having to decide how to best deal with dividing the family’s finances, property, if spousal maintenance is appropriate, and how to address all of the issues that arise if children are involved. 

The attorneys at Maenner Minnich are able to help you navigate this process and best position yourself so that you minimize the financial and emotional toll through the process and come out in the best position at the end.

CHILD CUSTODY

Any time you are going through a divorce with children, or when you have children outside of marriage and are establishing custody for the first time, there are two kinds of custody that the Court will determine: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody is the right to participate in the big decisions for your child. This is generally in the areas of education, religion and medical. Legal custody generally will be shared by the parents absent certain circumstances.

Physical custody is where your child is day-to-day. This can be joint or sole to one parent. The designation of physical custody used to carry more importance in Minnesota, but now the most important part of this is the parenting time schedule that you have in place. This is determined based upon the best interests of your child, which is defined by Minnesota statutes.

SPOUSAL MAINTENANCE

Minnesota law provides spouses with the ability or obligation to receive or to pay spousal maintenance to the divorced spouse after the dissolution of a marriage. The need for spousal maintenance is based upon a number of circumstances including the income earned by both parties during the marriage and the spending decisions the spouses made.

While the bulk of the spousal maintenance laws in Minnesota have not changed in decades, there is no formula for spousal maintenance allowing judges broad discretion to evaluate a maintenance request. This discretion allows the Court to weigh many factors including the income earning capability of the spouses, length of the marriage or the time it may take for a spouse earn income necessary to meet his or her monthly expenses.

In its most traditional sense, spousal maintenance was income paid from one spouse to another after the conclusion of a marriage based upon the employment sacrifices made by the requesting spouse during the marriage. While a two income household is more prevalent, the need for spousal maintenance may still exist in marriages.

After a spousal maintenance award, decisions made by prior spouses can have an impact on maintenance awards. A decision to live with another adult or remarry will impact on a spousal maintenance award. For the paying spouse, the loss of a job, relocation or retirement may have an impact on the amount or duration of a maintenance obligation. 

If you have further questions about a potential request for spousal maintenance or believe your existing or should be modified, please contact our office to discuss the additional factors that will be considered by Court.

CHILD SUPPORT

Whether you are contemplating separating your family or a change in employment is necessitating a review of your support obligations, child support is a key issue in many family law cases. The reason is simple: the desire to create a custody and parenting time arrangement that meets your child’s best interest is naturally followed up by a concern with the best way to ensure you have the financial resources to meet their needs.

Child support in Minnesota is currently based upon two major considerations. First, the parents or the Court will determine what monthly income each parent is or should be earning. The second consideration in determining child support is the amount of parenting time each parent has. The more parenting time awarded to a parent the less child support that is exchanged between parents simply because when you are exercising parenting time you are necessarily incurring expenses that the other parent is not.

Child support in Minnesota is modifiable. As children age there are many circumstances parents face from changes in parenting time, relocation to new cities or states, or changes in employment. The child support laws in Minnesota are designed to provide a pathway for parents to determine if the changes facing them warrant a change in their child support obligation or award.

Finally, once you have a support order, the next step for many parents is securing in collecting the support you are either owed or ordered to pay. There are many options available to parents from direct payments of support obligations to requests for an automatic deduction from income. There are a number of ways to secure the timely payment of support or to ensure your child support payments are being correctly recognized.