On
August 1, 2014, Minnesota’s child custody modification law was amended, making
it much easier for both custodial and non-custodial parents to modify parenting
time schedules. Under the old Child Custody
laws MN, in order to make significant changes to custody or parenting
time without the agreement of the other parent, a parent would need to prove
that a child was somehow endangered by the existing schedule or that the child
had become integrated into the “non-custodial” home in contravention of the
existing order. If a parent could prove
that one of these events had occurred, the Court would still only make
significant changes to the parenting schedule if the change was in the best
interests of the child. This was a very
high standard, and parents were frequently turned away even when the existing
parenting schedule was entered years before and circumstances had changed
dramatically in the years since.
The
new statute makes three significant changes.
First, the law no longer requires courts to use the endangerment/integration
standard just because a requested change would result in an arrangement where
each parent has custody between 45.1% – 54.9% of the time.
For
example, my client Sabrina previously lived in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, and she
had parenting time with her daughter between 10-12 days per month. Her ex-husband Sam lived in northern
Sherburne County, which was an hour away from Sabrina’s home. Recently, Sabrina moved to Elk River,
Minnesota, and now lives less than 20 minutes away from her daughter’s school,
which permitted her to have much more frequent contact with her daughter. Under the prior statute, it is very unlikely
that Sabrina would have been able to modify the existing Court order. However, under the new law, Sabrina was able
to negotiate a parenting time arrangement that was much closer to 50/50.
One
major reason that a parent might object to a change in a parenting schedule is
that a custodial parent might lose child support if the parent agreed to allow
the other parent more parenting time.
The Courts have been trying to separate issues of child support and Child Custody
Rights MN for some time now, and the new statute is consistent with
this goal.
A
second change in the law is that now the Court may consider the developmental
needs of a child in modifying custody orders.
That means that the Court can now consider that a parenting scheduled
that was fine when a child was two years old may not be appropriate for a child
who is eight years old. Consider my
client Bill, who lives in Alabama. When
his son was young, he and his son’s mother entered into an agreement that
required him to travel to Minnesota in order to exercise custody. Over time, Bill’s ex-wife permitted Bill to
take his son with him to Alabama for short periods of time, but she did not permit
Bill to have his son with him for an extended period of time in the summer. She
also required Bill to pick up and drop off his son in Minnesota, which tripled
the cost of transportation. Under the
old law, it is possible that the Court would have made some changes to assist
Bill. The new law explicitly permits the
Court to consider that Bill’s son’s developmental needs now permit him to have
extended parenting time with his father in Alabama. Further, the Court can consider that Bill’s
son is now able to travel as an unaccompanied minor.
Perhaps
the most significant change to the law is that courts now have the authority to
reserve the right to expand parenting time in the future at the time they make
an initial custody determination. If a
Court exercises this right at the outset, parents will no longer have to prove
that there has been a substantial change in circumstances, but will only have
to establish that it is in their child’s best interests to make a change in
custody. Under the prior statute,
parents would frequently agree that parenting time could be expanded if it was
in their child’s best interests, but the Court was powerless to impose the
lower standard absent the parties’ agreement.
No one knows how and when Courts will implement this new power. Stay tuned to this space for updates as my
clients experience the new changes.
About Author
Jennifer
graduated from the University of Minnesota cum laude with a bachelor’s degree
in speech communications. In 2006, Jennifer achieved her life’s dream; owning
her own family Law Attorney Minnesota practice. She practices every day as Divorce attorney
MN with
the intention of representing her clients’ future.
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