Category: Family Law
How Does Adultery Impact Divorce in Minnesota?
March 18, 2013 | Elizabeth A. SchadingMinnesota is a no-fault divorce state. That means that adultery doesn’t always have the impact that people imagine. Your spouse’s adultery doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll “get everything.” Your own adultery doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll lose everything. In fact, there are only few ways in which adultery might be relevant to a divorce case. The courts will want to look at three aspects of the adulterous relationship, and two of them only apply if you have children. If you have children the courts will want to know how much time was spent on the affair. If parenting time took a back seat to spending time with the new lover and did so for a long period of time then the affair could have a detrimental effect on the custody position of the adulterous spouse. It may be relevant if the children have been introduced to the new person in your life, and the amount of contact there has been. The court will also be concerned with whether or not the spouse’s lover has been or would be a bad influence on the children. A lover’s criminal background, history of mental illness or addiction problems could all prove relevant to custody determinations. Your children’s feelings about the lover can also matter a great deal….
Read MoreCan I Take a Job Out of Minnesota After My Divorce?
March 13, 2013 | Elizabeth A. SchadingIf you and your former spouse don’t have any mutual children, then a move out of Minnesota after a divorce should not create a problem. As we outlined in our Minnesota Divorce Laws Basics article, when children are involved, things get more complicating. If you have a standing parenting time arrangement, a move out of Minnesota becomes a much trickier proposition. After all, the courts typically want to do everything in their power to ensure that children get time with both parents, and there’s no denying that out-of-state moves can make this goal harder to attain. That doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for you to move. It just means that moving isn’t as simple as packing your bags, especially if you’re the parent with physical custody of your children and you are proposing to move them away from the other parent. If you wish to move you will need one of two things: either the agreement of your ex (in writing) or a court order granting you permission to go. If you have to take the matter to court you will need to be prepared to show that your move would be in the child’s best interests. It may be easy to show that the move is positive if you’re moving to take…
Read MoreWill I Get, or Have to Pay, Alimony?
February 20, 2013 | Elizabeth A. SchadingIn Minnesota, alimony is known as “spousal support” or “spousal maintenance.” There are few hard and fast rules where spousal support is concerned. It won’t be a factor at all in some divorce cases, and it’s difficult to predict for sure whether it will be a factor in yours, or what kinds of numbers you might be looking at. There are, however, some common scenarios that trigger spousal support considerations. The first is a large disparity in income between you and your spouse. If one spouse makes $100,000.00 per year and the other makes nothing, then spousal support is almost certain. The second “trigger” would be a long marriage period. Again, there’s no hard and fast rule, but the dissolution of a 30 year marriage is more likely to result in the payment of spousal support than the dissolution of a marriage of 5 years. The courts take many factors into account before awarding spousal support. Spousal support also may or may not last forever. There are temporary awards, meant to get one spouse “back on their feet” before moving into independence, and there are permanent awards which are awarded for life, typically when such a move into independence seems unlikely. The age and skills of the spouse who might be awarded spousal…
Read More