Saint Paul Divorce Attorney

Saint Paul Divorce Attorney

Divorce is the dissolution of your marriage, which is, itself, a legal contract. In other words, no matter how you look at it, divorce is complicated – not to mention emotionally fraught. Because divorce can feel like an obstacle course, breaking it down into manageable chunks can help make the process less arduous, and an experienced Saint Paul divorce attorney can help you do just that – in addition to helping you protect your parental and financial rights throughout the process. 

You and Your Kids

One of the primary concerns of a divorce involving children is your child custody arrangements. In Minnesota, child custody is divided into both legal custody and physical custody (also called parenting time), and they can both be either sole or joint. 

Legal Custody

Legal custody addresses the matter of who will be making important decisions on behalf of your children’s ongoing health and well-being. These decisions can relate to all of the following topics:

• Education
• Health care
• Religion
• Extracurriculars

Those workaday decisions that must be made on a daily – and even hourly – basis are the responsibility of the parent who has the children at the time they arise.

Physical Custody

Physical custody or parenting time relates to the schedule by which your children split their time between the two of you. Sometimes, there is a primary custodial parent with whom the children live the majority of the time, while the other parent has a visitation schedule. Other times, however, both parents split their time nearly evenly with the children. 

Child Support

Children are entitled to the financial support of both parents, and child support is the mechanism by which the state ensures that this happens. Because Child support is based on both parents’ earnings, the parent with the higher income typically pays child support to the other (even if parenting time is shared equally). 

The Division of Your Marital Property

Over the course of your marriage, you and your spouse likely acquired a home and other assets, and these are identified as marital property, which is to be divided equitably in the event of divorce. Equitably in this legal context means fairly – when all of the pertinent specifics of your marriage are factored in. 

The assets and property that you bring into your marriage with you and keep separate throughout remain your separate property. It must be noted, however, that the task of keeping property separate often gets lost in the shuffle of marriage. Overall, the division of marital property tends to be a very complicated task. 

An Experienced Saint Paul Divorce Attorney Can Help

If you’ve come to the painful decision that you need a divorce, the road ahead can be difficult, but you don’t have to face it alone. The dedicated Saint Paul divorce attorneys at Atticus Family Law are committed to helping you obtain divorce terms that support you and your children’s best interests while upholding your legal rights. For more information about how we can help, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.