Thought Leadership

The law governing out-of-state relocation of children changed in 2006 with the adoption of Minnesota’s removal statute, replacing the endangerment standard with an eight factor best interest standard and placing the burden of proof on the party seeking to relocate. Read family law attorneys Alan C. Eidsness and Jaime Driggs analysis in “What Type of Hearing…

Ever since housing prices plummeted, family law attorneys have struggled to determine how to treat real property with negative equity. Does it go on the balance sheet as a negative number or does it get valued at zero? With Middendorf v. Middendorf, the Court of Appeals issued a decision addressing how to treat real property with negative equity, an issue family law attorneys have struggled…

In their article, “Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl,” family law attorneys Alan C. Eidsness and Jaime Driggs examined the recent United States Supreme Court decision addressing the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The case involved the difficult issues of race, fathers’ rights, adoption placement, and Indian rights. Though it had the potential to provide a meaningful…

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals recently determined that broad provisions for the waiver of retirement benefits in antenuptial and postnuptial agreements are ineffective if the terms lack strict conformity with 29 U.S.C. §1055(c)(2)(A) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Family law attorneys Alan C. Eidsness and Lisa T. Spencer discuss the Court’s decision…

The Supreme Court’s decision in Haefele v. Haefele changed the landscape in child support litigation involving owners of closely-held businesses. Before Haefele, disputes in such cases frequently centered on the availability of the owner’s income. The reason for retaining earnings, degree of control, and true cash flow were always topics of inquiry and debate. After Haefele, these considerations still matter, but not with respect to calculating income and…

The importance of vocational assessments became unmistakable after Passolt v. Passolt but while some types of evaluations are provided for by statute, none exist for vocational evaluations. Read family law attorneys Alan C. Eidsness and Jaime Driggs’ analysis on requesting vocational evaluations after Graybow v. Graybow. The article is part of a series previously printed…