Lots happening to impact the practice of family law…

New Rules

Amended family law rules went into effect on May 1. You can read the amendments here.

Of note, the changes update terminology, streamline proceedings, and create three new forms. The changes came out of Divorce Camp 2009, with goals of making the rules reflect current practice in the District Courts and of making the rules more user-friendly for pro se litigants.

New Forms

The new rules require three new forms for all actions pending on the effective date of May 1 and to those filed thereafter.

1. Parenting/Financial Disclosure Statement
2. Certificate of Settlement Efforts
3. Initial Case Management Statement

These new forms are available at the Minnesota Judicial Branch website.

H.F. 322: Presumption of Joint Custody

This controversial bill is currently in the Senate. From the MSBA’s Capitol Connection email and blog:

JOINT PHYSICAL CUSTODY BILL ADVANCES IN SENATE

HF322, a bill that would alter Minnesota’s parenting time baseline presumption, was heard for a second time in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it was re-referred after being altered in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The Judiciary Committee voted to send the bill, which is opposed by the Family Law Section, to the Senate Finance Committee without a recommendation. The version of the bill that passed the House last month would raise the current presumption of 25% physical custody to 45.1%, and would only allow the presumption to be overcome by proving, to a clear and convincing standard, the type of mistreatment that would trigger child protection proceedings. The presumption would therefore override the longstanding “best interests of the child” factors in most contested cases. The Senate Judiciary Committee eliminated most of the House language and set the presumption at 35%.

The Senate Finance Committee passed the bill today and sent it to the Senate floor. If the bill becomes law, a wave of custody modification requests is expected to strain the court system, but no plan has been offered to cover the increased costs, which, because of delayed effective dates, may not occur until the state’s next fiscal biennium.

Future updates will be posted here.

South Dakota recently rejected a similar bill. Consider contacting your local elected official to express any concerns about this bill.

practicelaw Family Law Forms and Advisory Group

I’m working on expanding the family law forms library on practicelaw. Of note:

1. A few months ago we added a Complaint to Establish Paternity (FAM-300), thanks to Central Minnesota Legal Services. Last week we updated it to reflect the new Rule 314 (Parentage Proceedings).
2. We are planning to add forms regarding custody outside of a dissolution,  adoption (step and international), and third-party custody, plus a few other miscellaneous forms.
3. The J&D is regularly reviewed and updated. If you have a suggested change, please let me know. The form is here (FAM-680)

We need help with our new forms! We are in need of forms for international adoption and a financial affidavit for child support – if you have one that you would be willing to share, we will edit and format and give you credit on practicelaw.

We would also like to assemble a group of family law practitioners who we (I) can consult from time to time to ask questions as I update our forms. If you are interested in answering questions or reviewing language occasionally, please let me know. You can contact me by email.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Judgment and Decree

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

practicelaw.org staff continue to add new resources and update old resources. To wit:

The County Contacts list for medical assistance was updated in January, thanks to Greg Lulic at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The list was originally posted in June 2009 and updated in 2010. Users can quickly navigate to the county in question, find the name and contact information for the person(s) in charge of clearance certificates.  Of course, lists such as these are moving targets, but we do our best to get them updated periodically. If you see something needing correction, let us know.

New and Updated UCBs and ECBs were posted in January

• New Form 50.3.1 – Certificate of Translation (Minn. Stat. 507.46)
• New Form 50.3.2 – Affidavit Regarding Farm Disposal of Solid Waste (Minn. Stat. 17.135)
• Amended Form 40.5.1 – Receipt and Waiver of Mechanic’s Lien Rights
• Amended Form 40.6.1 – Notice of Lis Pendens
• Amended Form 40.6.2  Notice of Lis Pendens Foreclosure of Mechanic’s Lien

New Federal Tax Committee Updates were posted each month thanks to the MSBA’s Probate & Trust Law Section.

Coming soon – We are working on a set of organizational business forms which will be posted in phases starting in March. Staff have also been working on additional Jump Start At-A-Glance resources, primarily mind maps which visually depict an overview of an issue or area of law. Last Friday we posted on the solo small list serv to solicit member donations of checklists as they have proven to be a popular resource. Lastly we are in the process of reviewing practicelaw’s family law resources.

If you have suggestions, comments, donations please let us know.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Practicelaw.org, the MSBA’s online source of forms and other practice resources, has recently expanded its civil litigation form set. MSBA members now have access to forms spanning every phase of civil litigation.

During November and December, 21 new civil litigation forms joined the 25 civil litigation forms already on the site:

• CIV-431   Order (Proposed)
• CIV-436   Order for Summary Judgment (Proposed)
• CIV-437   Order Denying Summary Judgment (Proposed)
• CIV-460   Notice of Motion and Motion to Compel Discovery – General
• CIV-462   Certification of Compliance with Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 115.10
• CIV-463   Order Compelling Discovery (Proposed)
• CIV-480   Notice of Motion and Motion for Sanctions Pursuant to [Rule 11][Minn. Stat. 549.211]
• CIV-568   Rule 68 Offer of Settlement (Total Obligation)
• CIV-569   Rule 68 Offer of Judgment (Damages Only)
• CIV-580   Witness and Exhibit List
• CIV-583   Authorization for Release of Financial Information
• CIV-585   Authorization for Release of Personnel Records
• CIV-602   Notice of Dismissal
• CIV-603   Order for Dismissal Pursuant to R. 41
• CIV-604   Stipulation for Dismissal
• CIV-605   Order for Dismissal (Pursuant to Stipulation)
• CIV-606   Confession of Judgment
• CIV-607   Promissory Note
• CIV-818   Waiver of Independent Counsel

A form Settlement Agreement is in draft stage and should be posted soon as well.

We decided to add additional civil litigation forms because of survey data and user requests. We survey practicelaw users annually, and the percentage of users who indicate that they’ve used or relied upon civil litigation forms has increased each year:

• 2009 – 29%
• 2010 – 33%
• 2011 – 38%

Additionally, 98% of users surveyed this month indicated that practice-related forms are the most valuable of all those resources posted on practicelaw.

Also, just a reminder that in addition to civil litigation forms, the MSBA has other resources helpful to the civil litigator, namely a Statute of Limitations Handbook and a Judicial Survey Service. The Service collects information from district court judges with respect to their individual preferences on motion practice and courtroom conduct. The information is organized by judicial district and by the judge’s name.

Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions on the new forms.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Lindquist and Vennum’s Bob McLeod has been instrumental in the current revision process, as he was in the initial development of the forms and subsequent revisions. Many of the substantive updates are a result of his expertise, and we are very grateful to be working with him during this process.

For more information on what has changed and why we decided to revise the forms, see our first post announcing the revised forms.

Revised Forms

The forms are on 3 pages: Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Joint Guardianship and Conservatorship (with forms for minors on each page). Revised forms posted in November are:

• GC-12G – Notice of Intent to Dispose of Clothing, Vehicles, Furniture, or Other Personal Effect
• GC-13s through 14s – forms regarding Discharge of Conservator
• GC-16s – Orders Allowing Final or Annual Accounts, Discharging Conservator
• GC-17s through GC-20s – forms regarding Emergency/Temporary Guardianship/Conservatorship (minor and adult)
• GC-21s through 24s – various forms regarding the sale of real estate in a Conservatorship. Note: The 21-series forms were renumbered. Previously they were GC-21JTxx, and they are now GC-21Cxx, which is more consistent with the fact that these forms pertain only to conservatorships. They will still appear on the joint guardianship and conservatorship page as they may be needed for a joint proceeding.
• GC-25s through GC-27s – forms regarding Restoration to Capacity
• GC-28C – Notice of Claim
• GC-28G – Petition for Termination of Guardianship and Discharge of Guardian
• GC-29G – Order Confirming Termination of Guardianship and Discharge of Guardian
• Misc-4 and Misc-5 – In Forma Pauperis forms

Click here for a list of forms revised in June, and here for a list of form revised in September.

How can you check whether the form you’re using is updated? Check the date in the footer of the form. June 2011 and later are revised.

Other Important Revisions

The Order Appointing Conservator (GC-08C and GC-08JT) was republished with new paragraphs in the Conclusions of Law. Prior versions stated that the Respondent was incapacitated. This is the requirement for a guardianship but not a conservatorship, so the orders were updated to reflect the appropriate standards under the conservatorship statute.

The Petitions and Affidavits of Service, which were published in June and September, respectively, were updated to change new language from “interested parties” to “interested persons.”

Retired Forms

Please note that we’ve taken down several forms, mostly due to duplication. These forms were also retired:

• GC-21JTV – County Assessor’s Market Evaluation
• Misc-1 and Misc-2 forms – Petitions and Orders for New Letters. These were a holdover from the transition to the new statutes under the UPC in 2003. All guardianships and conservatorships should have been transitioned by now.
• All PDFs (All duplicates of the Word forms, and had low usage. More information in our earlier post.)
• Several joint guardianship/conservatorship forms which were identical to conservatorship-only forms.

If you are looking for one of the retired JT (joint guardianship and conservatorship) forms, look for the form with the same number but with a C instead of the JT designator. These forms have always been identical except for the caption, and on this round of editing we decided that even the caption did not need to be different — it is appropriate to say just “conservatorship” on these matters even if there is also a guardianship.

As always, let us know if you have any comments, questions, or feedback on the new forms!

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conservatorship, guardianship

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Lindquist and Vennum’s Bob McLeod is instrumental in the current revision process, as he was in the initial development of the forms and subsequent revisions. Many of the substantive updates are a result of his expertise, and we are very grateful to be working with him during this process.

For more information on what has changed and why we decided to revise the forms, see our last post announcing the revised forms.

Revised Forms

The forms are on 3 pages: Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Joint Guardianship and Conservatorship (with forms for minors on each page). Revised forms posted in September are:

• 2-series – Affidavit of Personal Service (6 forms)
• 3-series – Affidavit of Service by Mail (6 forms) (Note modifications to make this fit service either before or after the guardianship or conservatorship is ordered)
• 6-series – Notice of Hearing and Notice of Rights (6 forms)
• 7-series – Physician’s Statement (3 forms)
• 9-series – Notice of Entry of Order and Right to Appeal (6 forms)
• 11.1-C – Conservatorship Confidential Information Form 11
• 11.2-C – Conservatorship Financial Source Documents Form 11.2
• 13-C – Inventory
• 14-C – Annual Account or Final Account
• 15-C – Notice of Time and Place of Hearing on Annual Account
• 15-CF – Notice of Time and Place of Hearing on Final Account
• 15-CFD – Notice of Time and Place of Hearing on Final Account and Discharge of Conservator
• 15-CVF – Verification of Funds on Deposit
• 15-CVS – Verification of Stocks and Other Securities

Click here for a list of forms revised in June.

How can you check whether your form is updated? Look for: 1) The date in the footer of the form. June 2011 and later are revised. 2) Whether the form has a PDF counterpart listed on practicelaw. As part of the revision process we are dropping most of the PDFs because of low usage.

Retired Forms

Please note that we’ve taken down several forms, mostly due to duplication.

• 14-JT Annual Account or Final Account (Joint G/C)
• 15-JTA – Notice of Time and Place of Hearing on Annual Account (Joint G/C)
• 15-JTF – Notice of Time and Place of Hearing on Final Account (Joint G/C)
• 15-JTFD – Notice of Time and Place of Hearing on Final Account and Discharge of Conservator (Joint G/C)
• 15-JTVF – Verification of Funds on Deposit (Joint G/C)
• 15-JTVS – Verification of Stocks and Other Securities (Joint G/C)
• Misc-C-7 – Visitor’s Report (Conservatorship)
• Misc-G-7 – Visitor’s Report (Guardianship)
• All PDFs (All duplicates of the Word forms. Why? See above and our last post.)

If you are looking for one of the retired JT (joint guardianship and conservatorship) forms, look for the form with the same number but with a C instead of the JT designator. These forms have always been identical except for the caption, and on this round of editing we decided that even the caption did not need to be different — it is appropriate to say just “conservatorship” on these matters even if there is also a guardianship.

The visitor’s report was removed because it is not a form attorneys need to use or  edit. A PDF visitor’s report can be found on the judicial branch website (Form GAC105).

As always, let us know if you have any comments, questions, or feedback on the new forms!

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conservatorship, guardianship

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh