Child Custody in Minnesota | Legal and Physical Custody Explained
In Minnesota, child custody disputes can be difficult because parents often misunderstand what courts actually decide. Many people conflate parenting time, custody labels, and decision-making authority. Often, disagreements can be resolved through Social Early Neutral Evaluation (SENE), but sometimes they cannot. Minnesota law recognizes two kinds of custody – legal custody and physical custody.
Legal Custody
Generally, legal custody refers to the right of a parent (or both parents) to have a say in a child’s upbringing in three major life areas. These are:
- Education
- Healthcare
- Religion
Legal custody concerns decision-making authority, not day to day parenting. There is a presumption in Minnesota that both parents should be granted joint legal custody, unless domestic abuse has occurred. If there are specific disagreements about issues that fall within legal custody – for example, the parents might disagree about childhood vaccinations – courts can grant joint legal custody and make an additional ruling about the issue in dispute.
Physical Custody
Generally, physical custody refers to which parent has the routine daily care and control, and the residence of the child. Physical custody does not necessarily mean equal parenting time. Parents can be granted joint physical custody, with one parent granted the majority of parenting time overnights. Physical custody labels do not always determine the practical parenting time schedule.
Primary Residence and Choice of School
In Minnesota, choice of school is not determined by primary residence. Rather, it is a joint legal custody decision. This issue can be highly contested. For example, sometimes a parent will move during or after a divorce and seek to enroll the child in a different school closer to the new residence. If you think this might be your situation in the future, you need to engage in careful planning to achieve the best outcome for you and your child.
Addressing Custody Issues
In many Minnesota divorce cases, parents are able to agree on legal and physical custody. When they cannot, a careful understanding of the law – and of how evaluators and judges approach custody disputes – is critical.
Minnesota’s child custody statute requires that custody decisions be based on the “best interests” of the child. The custody statute lists twelve specific factors that must be considered. It also allows courts to consider other relevant factors not expressly listed. In some cases, the application of these factors is straightforward. In others, it is not.
I review the best interest factors carefully with my client. We carefully identify the factors that are favorable, as well as those that may be unfavorable, and develop a strategy to address them – either by changing circumstance where possible or by placing the factors in proper context.
Minnesota’s custody and best interest factors may be found at Minn. Stat. § 518.17.
If you are getting divorced in Minnesota, and you would like to know how the legal and physical custody factors apply to your family situation, call me to schedule an initial consultation. You can contact me at (952) 270-7700.
