Minnesota Child Custody & Parenting Time Attorney
Minnesota courts make custody decisions based on the best interests of the child, considering factors including each parent's relationship with the child, stability, and the child's own preferences when appropriate. These decisions affect your daily life and your relationship with your children.
What's At Stake
Legal custody (decision-making authority), physical custody (where the child lives), parenting time schedules, and the framework that will govern your family life going forward. Custody orders can be modified, but the standard for modification requires a showing of changed circumstances.
How We Respond
We present your case through the lens of your children's best interests while protecting your parental rights. We handle guardian ad litem proceedings and contested hearings with preparation and care. Our approach is to advocate effectively while keeping the focus on what is best for your children.
What To Do Right Now
Document your involvement in your children's daily lives. Maintain stability and routine. Do not make unilateral decisions about the children or relocate without legal guidance. Contact us to understand your rights before taking any action that could affect your custody case.
Common questions about child custody & parenting time.
Legal custody refers to the right to make major decisions about the child's education, health care, and religious upbringing. Physical custody refers to where the child lives. Both can be sole (one parent) or joint (shared). When either parent asks for joint legal custody, the court presumes it is in the child's best interests, and there is no presumption for or against joint physical custody. If domestic abuse has occurred between the parents, the court presumes joint legal or physical custody is not in the child's best interests. Both presumptions can be rebutted.
Minnesota courts consider 12 statutory best interests factors, including the child's physical, emotional, cultural, and spiritual needs, the child's reasonable preference if the child is mature enough, any domestic abuse, each parent's history of caring for the child, and the effect of changes to the child's home, school, and community.
Yes, in limited circumstances, and the standard for modification is higher than for the initial custody decision. A motion to modify generally cannot be brought within one year of the order, or within two years after a prior motion, unless the child's present environment may endanger the child or a parent has persistently and willfully interfered with parenting time. The court must find a change in circumstances and that the modification serves the child's best interests, and it must keep the existing arrangement unless, for example, both parties agree, the child has been integrated into the moving parent's family with the other parent's consent, or the child's present environment endangers the child and the harm likely from a change is outweighed by its advantages.
A guardian ad litem (GAL) is a neutral third party appointed by the court to represent the best interests of the child in custody proceedings. The GAL investigates the family situation, interviews the parties and the child, and makes recommendations to the court. GAL recommendations carry significant weight.
In Minnesota, the parent the child lives with may not move the child's residence to another state without the other parent's consent or a court order, if the other parent has parenting time under the decree. The court considers whether the relocation is in the best interests of the child. Relocation disputes are among the most complex in family law.
Questions about a family law matter?
Contact VanMeveren Law Firm for a confidential consultation.
Contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.