Uncategorized

Court Limits Grandparents’ Visitation Rights

July 11, 2011

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 [...]

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Possible Government Shutdown and the Court’s Role

June 21, 2011

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 [...]

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Blocking a Judge in Dakota County

June 13, 2011

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 [...]

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Paperless Court Filing System

May 4, 2011

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. [...]

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