In a 20-page opinion the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed an Order made by Hennepin County Referee Kevin McGrath that previously had granted an “unprecedented” amount of parenting time of a grandchild to the grandmother. In 2009 Brittany Givens-Copeland, 24, was strangled by a former boyfriend. Her son was only 4 months old at the [...]
A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court found that when a custodial parent brings an action for contempt for nonpayment of child support, the state is not required to provide counsel for the noncustodial parent. The state must have procedural safeguards in place to protect the contemnor’s due process rights, including the following: [...]
There has been much talk of the government shutdown in the state of Minnesota, scheduled for July 1 if the legislators and governor are unable to reach an agreement on the budget. As of now, an agreement does not seem promising, and both sides are taking further steps to protect programs during the shutdown. Both [...]
If you have ever practiced in Dakota County, you know that the judicial officers are assigned to a matter at the last minute and that the judicial officer will probably change with each court appearance. I had a contested divorce involving custody in Dakota County and due to the complex fact pattern I wanted to [...]
I read an interesting article on MPR news regarding the increased efficiency with the new electronic filing system. This article focused on the benefits in the criminal system, including having the same information entered into databases across departments and being able to electronically sign criminal complaints. These benefits carry to other areas of law too. [...]
In many child custody cases, there comes a point where one party wants to modify the custodial arrangement already in place. This can be for legal custody, the right to make big decisions regarding your child, or physical custody, where your child resides on a daily basis. Modifying either kind of custody is controlled by [...]
