Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota
I am in the process of finalizing a divorce. The child custody portion was agreed upon and signed legally last year. My soon to be ex-husband is trying to change what was already agreed on, before he will sign off on the financial part of the divorce. the way it stand is he gets the kids 40% and I 60%, but now his parents are threatening to take me to court for grandparents rights. I think this is crazy, my kids have been staying with them one night a week with my husband and after the divorce is final, when my exhusband has the kids, it is up to him to let his parents see the kids. Do they have a right to come after me for more visitation? HIs parents have a lot of money, I feel like they are trying make me run out of money on legal fee, where I will finally agree to their terms.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Your question is multifaceted. First, if your custody agreement was memorialized as a court order, it woulld be exceedingly difficult to change. It would require a showing that the children are endangered by the current custodial situation and that the benefit of the change is outweighs any harm that would be caused by the change.
If the agreement was not memorialized as a court order, it can be changed and a court could render a decision based on what it believes to be in the child's best interests. Of course, the written agreement could be used as evidence as to what the parties agreed to , what has been followed and what is in the child's best interests,
Grandparents rights are a separate issue entirely. Courts decide what grandparent's rights are appropriate based on a best interests of the child standard. There appears to be a decent argument, however, that the other parent has the children a sufficient amount of time to share his time with them.
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