Important Aspects of Minnesota Divorce Laws

June 26, 2010 By Law Library Leave a Comment

 

Divorces are a stressful experience for everyone including the divorce lawyers. IN this article we will discuss the important Aspects of Minnesota Divorce Laws that one must have an idea bout. There are two types of Minnesota Divorces. Absolute divorce and limited divorce. The former is a judicial termination of marriage based on marital misconduct or other types of causes that have cropped up after marriage is legalized. Here after divorce both the people are considered single again. Limited divorce laws are different in each state. They are commonly called separation decree. Here the right to live together is terminated but marriage is not dissolved and status of both parties remains unchanged.

 

The first important aspect is that to apply for divorce in Minnesota courts it is compulsory that one of the spouses must have been a resident of Minnesota for at least 180 days immediately before the petition for dissolution of marriage has been filed.

Legal Grounds for Divorce in Minnesota could either be `No Fault Divorce’ which includes living separate and apart for 180 days, visible and obvious marital discord affecting the attitude of 1 or both of the spouses toward the marriage adversely. Then there is General Divorce: where irrevocable breakdown of the marriage is the only ground for dissolution of marriage under Minnesota Divorce laws.

The grounds for a legal separation in Minnesota are that the divorce will be granted if the court finds that the spouses really need a legal separation. One of the spouses must have been a resident of Minnesota for at least 6 months before the petition for legal separation is filed as mentioned in the beginning. According to Minnesota Divorce Laws the petition may be brought by both husband and wife jointly as Co-Petitioners. This procedure eliminates the need for service of process or the use of a summons etc.

 

Another important aspect of Minnesota divorce laws include divorce mediation or counseling requirements which means mediation in the divorce may be ordered in cases where custody of children is also contested. Exceptions are where history of spousal abuse or physical or sexual child abuse is being found or suspected.

Then there is property issue which is a crucial aspect of Minnesota Divorce Laws appropriately termed as Divorce Property Distribution. Minnesota is an “equitable distribution” state and so is the law related to divorce. Each spouse retains his or her non-marital property, like, Property bought before the marriage, gifts and inheritances, and property exchanged for such non-marital property.

Then there are other aspects like Alimony and Spousal Support, Spouse’s Name after Divorce, Child Custody after Divorce, issues related to Child Support after Divorce etc. Each aspect related to Minnesota divorce laws covers the issue in detail.

Filed Under Family Law Tagged With Aspects, Divorce, Important, Laws, Minnesota

Joint Custody of Children – Joint Custody Laws and How They Impact on You

June 20, 2010 By Law Library Leave a Comment

Child custody courts used to bestow mothers sole custody of their children, and give visitation rights to the fathers.

In modern times, it is encouraged that fathers become more involved and more prominent in their children’s lives. Psychologists have informed law makers on the advantages of fathers having active roles in their children’s lives.

Sociological factors, such as the traditional marital roles and the increasing number of working mothers, prevented making joint custody the court’s preferred choice when deciding on custody and visitation rights.

Child custody courts will decide in favour of a co-parenting plan as opposed to a single custody plan in all cases where both parents are in the same way capable. It is assumed that this is in the child’s best interest, which is the norm in which all divorce matters relating to children are decided.

No parent should be denied child custody, unless there are grounds to believe that his or her parental relationship with the child will have a negative affect on the child.

Cases in which the courts would opt for sole custody are those where domestic violence, neglect or abuse is apparent.

Joint custody works best when:

- Parents live in physical immediacy
- Parents are able to uphold a civil relationship
- Plans or arrangements are made to suit and benefit the child’s needs
- Parents do their best to support one another and not be counter-productive by undermining each other.
- Rotas or agendas are made so that they are stable, yet flexible when needed.
- Financial resources are accessible to uphold two full residences.

Clearly joint custody can have its disadvantages as well as advantages.

The biggest difficulty is regarding the moving of the child from one home to the other. Of course, with a sensible parenting plan, this problem can be easily solved.

Learn more about a joint custody of children and joint custody laws and to give yourself the best chance of maintining a loving relationship with your child visit my blog now!

In later years you may regret not arming yourself with the knowledge you need now to get sole or joint custody of your child.

To learn more visit http://ChildJointCustody.com

Filed Under Family Law Tagged With Children, Custody, Impact, Joint, Laws, They

Joint Custody Laws – What You Need to Know About Child Joint Custody Laws

June 8, 2010 By Law Library Leave a Comment

There are essentially 2 types of joint custody when it comes to the care of children in a failed relationship.

1) Joint Legal Custody

This involves both parents making the important decisions in the child’s life, even though one of the parents may have sole physical custody.

2) Joint Physical Custody

This involves the child living with each parent in turn according to an agreed schedule.

The schedule will be decided upon by the court if the parents can not agree and the paramount issue and influencing factor is always what is best for the child.

Custody cases can be very troubling and traumatic for all concerned and can run for years. The emotional and financial costs can be very high and that is why agreement should be reached as to the custodial arrangements for the child if at all possible.

If this does not happen then the court will impose it’s judgment.

There is a strong presumption of joint custody in about 35 states in the U.S. but this does not mean that joint custody will necessarily follow. The court will look at both parents parenting skills and look for substance abuse issues and anything else which may render the parent an unsuitable parent for sole or joint physical custody.

For this reason forearmed is forewarned and any parent who is going through a failed relationship has a responsibility to do a little research on the whole area to allow them put their best foot forward and obtain joint custody of their child..at least.

Armed with this knowledge, particularly for the joint custody laws favoured by your state, will reduce some of the understandable anxiety in a very troubling time.

Learn more about joint custody laws at my blog now and fight for your child with the tools you need when you go to court..knowledge of how the system works.

You can arm yourself with the necessary knowledge at
http://ChildJointCustody.com

Filed Under Family Law Tagged With About, Child, Custody, Joint, Know, Laws, Need

Family Laws in England

June 2, 2010 By Law Library Leave a Comment

 

The family law system used to refer to the laws, procedures and rules governing family matters as well as the authorities, agencies and groups which participate in or influence the outcome of private disputes or social decisions involving family law. Such a view of family law may be regarded as assisting the understanding of the context in which the law works and to indicate the policy areas where improvements can be made.

The UK is made up of three jurisdictions: Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales. Each has quite different systems of family law and courts. Family law encompasses divorce, adoption, wardship, child abduction and parental responsibility. It can either be public law or private law. Family law cases are heard in both County Courts and Family Proceedings Courts (Magistrates Court), both of which operate under codes of Family. There is also a specialist division of the High Court of Justice, the Family Division which hears family law cases.

A divorce in England and Wales is only possible for marriages of more than one year and when the marriage has irretrievably broken down. Whilst it is possible to defend a divorce, the vast majority proceed on an undefended basis. A decree of divorce is initially granted ‘nisi’, i.e. (unless cause is later shown), before it is made ‘absolute’. Relevant laws are:

Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which sets out the basis for divorce (part i) and how the courts deal with financial issues, known as ancillary relief (part ii)

Cruelty has been made irrelevant. See Gollins v Gollins [1964] A.C. 644

Family Law Act 1996

Children Act 1989

Family Proceedings Courts (Matrimonial Proceedings etc.) Rules 1991

Marriage Act 1949

Marriage Act 1994

Gender Recognition Act 2004

Here is a rough outline of the undefended divorce procedure from start to finish:

1.     Filing of Divorce Petition & if necessary Statement of Arrangements for the Children

2.     Documents issued by Court and posted to the Respondent

3.     Respondent returns Acknowledgement of Service to the Court (if he/she does not you will need to consider Bailiff Service, Deemed Service or other options)

4.     Petitioner completes Affidaviti in Support of Petition and Request for directions

5.     A Judge will then consider all the divorce papers and if he/she is satisfied issue a Certificate of Entitlement to a Decree and Section 41 Certificate (confirming he/she is content with arrangements for any children)

6.     Decree Nisi is granted

7.     Six weeks later the application can be made by the Petitioner for the Decree Absolute.

From beginning to end, if everything goes smoothly and Court permitting, it takes around 6 months.

If there are any outstanding financial issues between the parties, most solicitors would advise resolving these by way of a ‘Clean Break’ Court order prior to obtaining the Decree Absolute.

There is only one ‘ground’ for divorce under English law. That is that the marriage has irretrievably broken down.

There are however five ‘facts’ that may constitute this ground. They are:

1.     Adultery

§                    Often now considered the ‘nice’ divorce.

§                    respondents admitting to adultery will not be penalised financially or otherwise.

2.     Unreasonable behaviour

§                    The petition must contain a series of allegations against the respondent that the Judge considers serious enough that the petitioner cannot be expected to live with the respondent.

3.     Two years separation by consent

§                    both parties must consent

§                    the parties must have lived separate lives for at least two years prior to the presentation of the petition

§                    this can occur if the parties live in the same household, but the petitioner would need to make clear in the petition such matters as they ate separately, etc.

4.     Two years desertion

5.     Five years separation

At Hayat & Co.   We understand how distressing and difficult a Divorce can be and we are here for legal advice divorce, family law advice. We deal with your case with sensitivity, confidentiality and understanding. R

 

Filed Under Family Law Tagged With England, Family, Laws

New Nevada Corporate Laws You Need To Know

May 30, 2010 By Law Library Leave a Comment

New Nevada Corporate Laws You Need to Know
____________
Bearer Shares Outlawed
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Ownership Disclosure Procedure Instituted
____________
Stronger Asset Protection for Corporations

The Nevada legislature made some significant changes to Nevada’s Corporation Code in its most recent session. You need to know these new rules.

The biggest changes, which are effective July 1, 2007, will be discussed in this article. As is often the case, the rules and regulations used to carry out the new laws will be implemented over time, and we will keep you informed of them as they arise. (If you or your friends would like a free subscription to the Corporate Direct Report please click here.)

For now, there are three important changes and several miscellaneous new rules you need to know about immediately.
1. Bearer Shares Outlawed
Bearer shares are stock certificates which, instead of listing the owner by name, list the owner only as “The Bearer.” The supposed advantage of this was to maintain privacy of ownership. The Bearer was whoever held the certificate, so shares could be transferred from one person to the next without notice to anyone or recordation anywhere.
I have never really liked the whole notion of bearer shares. If someone comes to me with the bearer certificate, how do I know if the certificate wasn’t stolen or forged? The idea of simply handing a certificate from one person to the next may sound nice and easy (and a bit crafty) but such a transfer can create all sorts of tax problems. If you hand a certificate representing a million dollar business over to your friend you’ve made a significant gift, for which gift taxes are due. And when by prearrangement he hands the certificate back to you there’s another taxable event. Worse yet, what if your ‘friend’ wouldn’t give you the certificate back?
The big reason bearer shares were outlawed has to do with fraud. Less than ethical corporate promoters would sell their less than ethical corporate clients on the idea that by simply handing the bearer certificate over to a friend they could deny a judgment creditor (one with a court awarded judgment) access to the business or other asset. Of course, such a transfer is a fraudulent conveyance, meaning that a court could overturn the transfer if anyone ever found out about it. The problem was that it could be very difficult to find out about it. As a result, bearer shares enabled a certain class of people to commit fraud. The Nevada Legislature was right in outlawing bearer shares.

2. New Ownership Disclosure Procedures
The use of Nevada corporations and other entities to commit fraud is also the reason for this next big change. It is unfortunate that privacy of entity ownership is now somewhat compromised, but when people continually abuse the system something will usually give.
Apparently the federal and law enforcement authorities pushing for these changes played the terrorist card—that insanely bad people were using the privacy of Nevada entities to ultimately greatly harm us. While it is my opinion that this red hot card gets played a little too often these days, there can be no denying that domestic bad guys, your average American scam artist, used Nevada privacy for nefarious purposes.
But the new law for corporations, LLC’s, LP’s, business trusts and the like is not as bad as you may expect. Here is the rule for corporations:
1. In addition to any records required to be kept at the registered office pursuant to NRS 78.105, a corporation that is not a publicly traded corporation shall maintain at its registered office or principal place of business in this State:
a. A current list of its owners of record; or
b. A statement indicating where such a list is maintained.
2. The corporation shall:
a. Provide the Secretary of State with the name and contact information of the custodian of the list described in subsection 1. The information required pursuant to this paragraph shall be kept confidential by the Secretary of State.
b. Provide written notice to the Secretary of State within 10 days after any change in the information contained in the list described in subsection 1.
3. Upon the request of any law enforcement agency in the course of a criminal investigation, the Secretary of State may require a corporation to:
a. Submit to the Secretary of State, within 3 business days, a copy of the list required to be maintained pursuant to subsection 1; or
b. Answer any interrogatory submitted by the Secretary of State that will assist in the criminal investigation.
4. If a corporation fails to comply with any requirement pursuant to subsection 3, the Secretary of State may take any action necessary, including, without limitation, the suspension or revocation of the corporate charter
5. The Secretary of State shall not reinstate or revive a charter that was revoked or suspended pursuant to subsection 4 unless:
a. The corporation complies with the requirements of subsection 3; or
b. The law enforcement agency conducting the investigation advises the Secretary of State to reinstate or revive the corporate charter.
6. The Secretary of State may adopt regulations to administer the provisions of this section.
It is important to note that Nevada is not asking for the owners of the entity up front. The requirement is that the registered agent either keeps a list of the owners or the name of a contact person who has a list of the owners. The Secretary of State will request the ownership list only when a law enforcement agency needs it for a criminal investigation. Not for a civil case mind you, but only for a criminal case.
What this means is that if your business and asset protection plans are on the up and up, your privacy will be protected. Or, to put it another way, if you are engaged in fraud and other crimes, our firm will be happy to comply with these new rules. You may even want to take your bad business somewhere else to begin with. But for the good guys, you will still maintain your privacy.
Two points are worthy of further note. First, for limited partnerships the only owners the new legislation aims for are the general partners. While the generals do indeed control a limited partnership, frequently they only own 2% or less of the entity, and are usually just a management corporation or LLC. The limited partners will own 98% of the limited partnership and, except for management, are the economic beneficiaries of the entity.
Whether the new law intentionally just wanted information only on the general partners or will be corrected to include the limited partners’ identities remains to be seen. But for now, people very concerned about privacy may want to use Nevada limited partnerships.
The second point has to do with Wyoming. The corporate law of Wyoming does not have such an ownership disclosure procedure. Yet.
Apparently the federal authorities are working to get similar legislation approved in other states, including Wyoming. We will keep you informed of such developments. Until then, once again, those very concerned about privacy may want to use Wyoming entities.
3. Stronger Asset Protection for Nevada Corporation Shares
One of the strongest asset protection laws on the books is the charging order. This law holds that a judgment creditor of a member of an LLC or a partner of a limited partnership can’t acquire those interests directly and use that control to force a sale of the assets. Instead, they only obtain the rights of an assignee of the membership or partnership interest, meaning they are only entitled to distributions from the entity. They can’t vote to sell the assets to satisfy their claim. They can’t even vote to increase distributions. They are stuck waiting for future distributions, which may or may not come. The charging order is a very effective deterrent to frivolous litigation, especially in Nevada and Wyoming LLC’s and LP’s where the charging order is the exclusive remedy.
Up until now, the charging order had never applied to shares of corporate stock. So, for example, if John got in a car wreck and his insurance did not cover him, the victim could proceed against all of his assets. If John owes 75% of a profitable corporation the victim could get control of the shares and vote to sell the business to satisfy the claim. This certainly is not fair to Jane, the 25% owner of the business, who worked hard to build it up only to see it sold out from under her.
With Nevada’s new law the charging order now applies to shares of corporations. This is an excellent development.
There are several important rules to point out. The charging order protection only applies to corporations that have more than one and fewer than 75 shareholders. If you own 100% of a profitable corporation you may well want to consider issuing a nominal amount of shares to a relative or friend in order to gain the better protection. As well, the new law does not apply to subsidiaries of publically traded companies or to professional corporations.
The charging order protection for corporate shares does not apply to any litigation filed before July 1, 2007, and it does not supersede any private agreement between a stockholder and a creditor. This new law puts Nevada at the forefront of asset protection states. While Wyoming will most probably follow suit, until they do Nevada is the state in which to incorporate. Even though Nevada’s initial and annual filing fees are somewhat higher than Wyoming’s fees, the better protection is well worth the extra cost.
4. Miscellaneous New Rules
The new law dealt extensively with the conduct of restricted agents. A new category was created that of the commercial registered agent, which shall be registered with state. Registered agents that don’t comply with rules to be established by the Secretary of State’s office can be banned from the business. In keeping with the new disclosure rules, registered agents must keep a company’s stock ledger for three years following the registration or termination of the agent or dissolution of the company.
The new law allows for professional LLCs. Many doctors, lawyers, CPAs and the like have wanted the flexibility of operating their practices as an LLC but were prohibited from doing so. The new law follows the trend of many states of now allowing for professional LLCs.
The importance of the corporate election of directors was underscored in the new law. Companies that fail to elect directors within 18 months beware. The owners of 15% of the corporate stock can go to court to force such an election.
The reinstatement of entities was made more effective. A corporation, LLC or LP that fails to pay its annual fees to the state can lose its right to do business. Reinstatement involves paying back fees to bring the entity current with the state. The new law provides that reinstatement reinstates the entity’s right to do business as if the entity had been current all along.
As we have noticed before, the law is a dynamic and ever changing area. Nevada’s new laws prove the point. Once again, if you or a friend would like to receive updates on changes to the corporate laws, please click here.

We will keep you informed. If you have any questions or concerns regarding these new laws, please contact us at www.Sutlaw.com

Filed Under Business Law Tagged With CORPORATE, Know, Laws, Need, Nevada
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