Family Law – Child Custody
Under Minnesota law, there are two types of child custody.
“Legal custody” refers to the right to make decisions about how to raise the child, including decisions about education, health care, religious training and certain activities.
“Physical custody” refers to the right to make decisions about the routine day-to-day activities of the child and where the child lives.
Some parents share Legal custody and Physical custody for their child or children. This is referred to as Joint Legal and Joint Physical custody.
“Joint legal custody” means that both parents share the responsibility for making decisions regarding how to raise the child, including the right to participate in major decisions about the child’s education, health care, and religious training.
“Joint physical custody” means that the routine daily care and control and the residence of the child is structured between both of the parents.
In some cases parents share Joint legal custody but one parent has Sole physical custody. This is common in cases where parents disagree about who should be the primary caregiver for the child or children. Other factors also contribute to the granting of Sole physical custody by the court to one parent.
A custody evaluation is conducted in Family Law cases where the opinion of a third party is necessary. The custody evaluator will review the statutory best-interest factors (and sometimes the case law imposed 14th best interest factor of anticipated removal from the State of Minnesota) and make a custody determination based on the best interests of the minor child (or minor children).
Located in the historic Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, Lake Harriet Law Office provides experienced and personalized legal representation exclusively in the area of Family Law.
It is important to have an experienced attorney who can effectively advocate your position during the case and who understands every phase of the Family Law legal process. In some cases, this means taking the case to Trial to properly resolve the contested legal issues.
Our goal is to provide you with the highest-quality legal representation, and to make sure that you are well-informed throughout the entire legal process – from the beginning of your case until the conclusion of your case.
We represent Family Law clients in Minneapolis, Bloomington, Edina, Golden Valley, Hopkins, New Hope, Plymouth, Hennepin County, St. Paul, Ramsey County, Anoka County and throughout the Twin Cities.