Times are tough. Many families and individuals have struggled the past few years because home values have dropped and jobs are difficult to come by. Financial problems add to or are the cause of marital discord. Not surprisingly, when couples decide to divorce, many find the idea of hiring an attorney distasteful, if for… Read more »
Divorce can be a challenging process. After the initial difficult decision of whether to pursue a dissolution action, many parties wonder where to begin in sorting through the many pieces of the marital relationship. One helpful place to start is to realize that there are two main issues that apply to every divorce and two… Read more »
In a divorce, the Minnesota courts cannot impose on a parent the obligation to pay for college. This is because Minnesota family law does not govern children who have reached majority. The family court will not interfere with the application of existing college funds to tuition expenses, and cannot interfere with the provisions of an… Read more »
Six to ten years ago, nearly every divorce in which the couple owned a house provided the couple some equity value to divide. The house was an asset, and the spouses could sell the house, and divide the proceeds; or one of the spouses would buy out the other spouse’s interest in the house. In… Read more »
A bill has been introduced in the Minnesota Senate for a two-year waiting period in contested marriage dissolutions that involve children. The concept of a waiting period is misguided if its purpose is to encourage (force?) parents to stay together “for the kids.” The current law provides that if one spouse (not both) asserts that… Read more »
Under Minnesota law, the statutory basis for dissolving a marriage is one spouse’s (or both spouses’) assertion that there has been an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. It is important to note that it is not required that both spouses assert that the marriage cannot be saved. In many cases, one spouse wants to end… Read more »
It is important to consider some distinctions in retirement interests and the way they are divided in a divorce. A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) is commonly needed so that both spouses can have separate interests in a retirement account without problems associated with tax penalties and early withdrawals. The QDRO process involves the two… Read more »
The process of divorce is often difficult. The decision to get a divorce is often difficult. And once you’ve made the huge decision and begun the process, you are likely to want nothing more (and nothing less) than to be done with it. One of the difficulties about the hugeness of the decision to divorce… Read more »
Minnesota law requires that the division of a marital estate to be “fair and equitable.” The law does not require the division to be EQUAL. But often equal is fair, and anything other than equal is not fair. Here is why: if the parties reach an out-of-court settlement, they will negotiate the terms. Both spouses… Read more »
If you start the divorce process, your spouse has thirty days to respond to the petition. What happens if the responding spouse does nothing during the thirty-day period? Technically, the responding spouse is in default. That means that the responding spouse has forfeited the opportunity to participate in the divorce process. This situation may sound… Read more »