Outline of Legal Issues in Marital Dissolutions in Minnesota

A. Exceptional: Non-Marital Property

1. Non-marital source

a. Before marriage

b. Through Inheritance

c. Gifts from third parties

d. Personal Injury awards for pain and suffering

2. Not hopelessly commingled with marital assets

3. Note: Assets can be part marital - part non-marital

B. Marital

1. Everything else, regardless of form or title

2. By statute, subject to a "just and equitable" division

A. Schedule: School year, summers, holidays, vacations
B. Decisionmaking
C. Communication
D. Legal Custody: participation in major decisions
      Presumption: Joint, for Mom and Dad
E. Physical Custody: "Routine daily care and control of child(ren)"
      Legal Consequences of "Joint" or "Sole;" No presumption

1. Child Support

2. Move out of state

3. Control

A. Child Support; formulas, expense-sharing agreements, combinations
B. Child Care
C. Health Care for Children
D. Spousal Maintenance; Case-by-case analysis