At Wermerskirchen and Blomquist we strive to provide cost-effective, individualized attention to your legal matters. We want you to feel secure, informed, and comfortable with each step in your case. Working out of Maple Grove, MN, we serve clients in the Twin Cities and the surrounding
area.
Here is some recently published information regarding our area's of practice:
--What is Potential Income in the context of child support?
Currently under Minnesota law, if a parent is voluntarily unemployed, underemployed, or employed on a less than full-time basis, or there is no direct evidence of any income, child support must be calculated based on a determination of potential income. Potential income can be calculated in one of three ways:
1. The parent's probable earnings level based on employment potential, recent work history, and occupational qualifications in light of prevailing job opportunities and earnings levels in the community.
2. If a parent is receiving unemployment compensation or workers' compensation, that parent's income may be calculated using the actual amount of the unemployment compensation or workers' compensation benefit received.
3. The amount of income a parent could earn working full time at 150 percent of the current federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher.
The third method is likely the most common method used in child support calculations. However, a bill introduced in this legislative session would revise the third method of the potential income calculation instead to read: “the amount of income a parent could earn working 30 hours per week at 100% of the current federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher.” This change could affect many child support calculations as it can mean a difference between $2,078 per month and $1,039 per month in potential income.
--How changes to the Minnesota parenting time law affects your parenting time
As of May 5th 2014, Minnesota Statute 518.17 subdivision 2 and Statute 518.175 subdivisions 1 and 5 have changed. How will this change in the law potentially affect your parenting time?
The changes in 518.17 subd. 2 make sure to explicitly write that there is no presumption that joint parenting is better than sole custody or vice versa except in cases of domestic abuse. The four relevant factors are kept the same from the old law in determining custody:
The ability of parents to cooperate in the rearing of their children;
Methods for resolving disputes regarding any major decision concerning the
life of the child, and the parents' willingness to use those methods;
Whether it would be detrimental to the child if one parent were to have sole
authority over the child's upbringing; and
Whether domestic abuse has occurred between the parents.
But now the law adds:
That one of these factors cannot be used to exclude the others; and
Disagreement over whether there should be joint or sole custody over a child does not constitute for inability to cooperate for factor 1.
The next change comes when there is a disagreement between the parents whether there should be joint or sole custody. The court must determine by looking at the facts what would be in the child’s best interest. This is a change from the previous law wherein the court only had to perform this task if it awarded joint custody.
The changes in 518.175 subd. 1 and 5 allow the court to change the original parenting time agreement. The court is now given the ability when issuing a parental time order to reserve the power to expand the parental time of one parent based on changes in the child’s best interest. The newest factor added to the list that will allow an increase of parental time is the change in developmental needs. For you this might mean that as the child gets older parenting time can change based off of their new needs at that stage in their life.
In the end, only time will tell how the court system will use the changes in this law to change parenting time. At Wermerskirchen & Blomquist, we have been testing this new language in our parenting time modification motions, and have had success both in increasing the amount of parenting time where appropriate, or defending against a motion to advocate that the parenting time order should not be changed.