JOHNSON LAW FIRM,P.A.  

Answer:  Yes.  The County attorney does NOT represent you and your child support worker CANNOT give you legal advice, it is against the law to give legal advice unless you are a licensed attorney.  You cannot call your child support worker to ask them legal advice.

Answer:  No. Signing a Recognition of Parentage only establishes your paternity and will obligate you to pay child support but it alone does not create any custody or visitation rights for unmarried fathers.  Fathers must file a motion with the court and obtain a court order granting them visitation rights.  

Answer:  Legal custody means the right to have a say in the major decisions in a child's life.  Physical custody means who has the primary residence of the child, where the child will live.  The presumption of law is in favor of an award of joint legal custody.  There is no presumption in favor of joint physical custody.

Answer:   Yes.  A spouse is entitled to receive an equal share of all contributions to a defined contribution pension plan (such as a 401(k) or a defined benefit plan (such as a company pension that pays monthly once retirement age is reached) BUT only from the date of marriage through the date of dissolution (or valuation).  Any future contributions made by either party to their pension after the divorce decree is signed, belongs solely to that party and their ex spouse is not entitled to future contributions.  The division and award of pensions is done through a intricate legal court document known as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order which must be approved by the plan administrator and signed by the Court.  This document allows the transfer of a portion awarded in a divorce decree to that party without penalties as it is not considered an early cash out if done correctly.  

Answer:   No.   If your spouse is going to be awarded real property which is subject to a mortgage which you are jointly obligated for as a joint debtor, quit claiming ownership to your spouse will not release you from liability for the mortgage note, even if you no longer own the house.  Only the bank or mortgage lender can release you from the mortgage note and this should be done before your divorce decree is final.  If your spouse wants to be awarded the home, and it has a joint mortgage on it, you better find out before the final decree whether or not he or she can refinance the mortgage debt to remove your name from it.  If this cannot happen, you should ask that the home be sold.   Even if your spouse paid on the mortgage and kept it current, after you are divorced, you may want to have credit of your own to purchase things, and you don't need to have your debt to income ratio blown out of whack because you are showing you are still liable on the joint mortgage for a home that you no longer own, but your ex spouse does!

Answer:  You have to have full knowledge of all assets, income, debts and liabilities or the other party before you can enter into a settlement, otherwise, what are you agreeing to if you don't know?  Once a divorce decree is entered, the property settlement and assets split and awards in that decree are permanent after 60 days.  The court loses jurisdiction to hear any future motions regarding property awards.  You only get one shot at having what you worked for, earned, and are entitled to in the divorce so never feel pressured to settle especially if you are not aware of your spouses assets, income or debts.

 Answer:  No.  Minnesota law has never given the legal binding authority to make the determination as to which parent they will live with, regardless of the age of the child.  It is never their choice which is binding on the court.  The preference of a child as to which parent they wish to live with, if the court deems the child a reasonable age to express a preference, usually beginning at age 8-9 years old, is only one of many statutory best interest factors that the court must consider when awarding custody.  But the Judge does not give a minor child his robe and gavel to make such a decision as to what is best for him.  That is ultimately up to the Court to decide and order.

Answer:  No.  The income of a new spouse does not count in calculating child support.  Cohabitation or living with any other adult person may be argued to reduce a party's monthly living expenses however.

Answer:  Yes as long as you are a party to the conversation, you may tape record the conversation, even secretly. 

Answer:   No.  There is a legal presumption in favor of joint legal custody but there is no presumption in favor of joint physical custody, nor is there a presumption against  joint physical.   Even if joint physical custody is awarded or agreed to, the amount of time the child spends with each parent for parenting time does not  have to be equal.  Joint physical custody with equal time will however result in a significantly lower guideline child support obligation to the party with a higher income than the other parent.   

Answer:   Yes if you have a history of working overtime in the recent past, the court may conclude that overtime is a normal, regular source of income for you. In that case, the court can consider overtime earnings when setting child support.  The court can't require you to work overtime, but if you have been working overtime within the last year or two right before you go to court for child support, most likely the court is going to include overtime pay in your gross income amount.  

Answer:  If you hire an attorney, you are solely responsible to your attorney to pay for your attorney fees.  An advance lump sum amount is required to be paid by client to attorney before the attorney will take your case.  The amount is placed in the attorney's client trust account and billed against at an hourly rate for future time attorney spends working on your case.  A written retainer agreement is customarily signed by client in advance explaining payment terms.  Most attorneys require a lump sum advance payment to begin, and most attorneys will not take monthly payments, but are instead, paid in advance in full.   Not very often are attorney fees granted or awarded by the court in a dissolution proceeding.  You can make a request that the other party pay your attorney fees, but since it it rarely awarded by the court, plan to obtain the finances to pay your own.  Divorce attorney fee payment is not a ordinary type of debt.  Unlike payments you make monthly on your home or car,  you are paying for the expertize you are in need of because in a divorce, everything you have acquired and owned in your life up to that point, will be divided and awarded in the divorce decree, whether you get to keep all of your future paychecks or whether you must part with portion of your future paychecks will be determined also, and if so, how much will you have to pay your ex for support or alimony and how long.  Whether you get to live in your house, who pays your bills, when and where you will get to  see your children, just about every possible issue that effects a persons life now and into the future is effected by the outcome of the divorce proceeding.  And once the court signs the final decree, it cannot be changed.  The average cost of any family court action is between $5,000 to $25,000 for attorney fees.  It could be more, it could be less.  As it is impossible to predict the amount of time to achieve a desired result, no "estimated total amount" of the cost your attorney fees will be, can be given.