How do courts decide child custody in a Minnesota divorce? The standard for determining child custody in a Minnesota divorce is based on the “best interests” of the child standard.
Minnesota child custody law | the “best interest” standard
The law in Minnesota provides that the “best interest of the child” standard is many factored and no single factor controls over the other. For instance, the courts will not decide that the mother or the father should be the presumptive custodial parent. The courts may even award both parents joint physical custody if they are able to handle that kind of arrangement. The parents must be able to work together to ensure the best interest of the child.
The best interest standard includes such factors as:
how long the children have been in their residence
who will be receiving the marital residence
where the children go to school,
what community they live in
what parent has been the primary caretaker of the children since birth
the adjustment to the community the religious upbringing
the wishes of either parent
if the children are over the age of 14, the wishes of the children
whether or not there has been emotional or physical abuse of the children by either parent or a family member
and several other factors that the judge may use in his or her discretion to decide on custody
Is also important to realize that no one factor is more important than another. This is often what lawyers often call the “totality of circumstances” test.
Can the child simply decide where to live?
As a practicing Minnesota child custody lawyer, I’ve been asked many times my clients whether or not the children’s simply wishing to live with either mom or dad will be the controlling factor in a case. My general answer is no, that a child’s wish is not the number one standard nor, in my opinion, is that the most important standard the judge will take into consideration a custody case.
In my opinion as an attorney who has practice trial, uncontested cases, and contested cases, the most important factor is the ability of the parents to foster a stable making continuous relationship of the children with all parties, and the parent that will establish a safe and healthy relationship to the children and all parties involved. Often, in a divorce, the parents are fighting greatly with each other and they’re not often able to see the trees from forest.
The judges are not interested and let listening to petty squabbles between divorcing parties, and they’re certainly not willing to entertain squabbles about the children. This is true of any county judge, not the least in a Dakota County divorce. Again, the parent that fosters us healthy and stable environment for the children will often be the parent who is awarded custody. This may sound obvious, but when parties are going through over the difficult divorce they’re not able to think clearly and they are often not on their best behavior.
Although there is a multi-factor test in the court will follow because they have to, my advice to all of my clients are to be reasonable and not be self-interested. The parent that can be less self-interested than the other party, often does very well.
What if the husband or wife is making up things about the other parent?
There are also situations where one party maybe making up fax more lies to make him or herself look better in the eyes of the judge – or at least they think that they’re making themselves look better than the eyes of a judge.
I have to advised people that regardless of what kind of lies one party maybe making up, that lying party often has no idea what factors are important and all they are doing is making a nuisance out of themselves and likely hurting their case. Again, it goes back to common-sense.
Understanding right from wrong and providing a safe and stable environment for the children is the most important factor. People need to be very cognizant of that. Regardless of what they may say about one another, again, the other side often has no idea what is important.
For further information about Minnesota divorce law and how the courts decide child custody, please contact Joseph M Flanders at Flanders Law Firm LLC at 612 –424 –0398 for further information.
