Family Justice Center

Archive for June, 2010

There are skilled lawyers and legal assistants who are familiar with divorce laws and child custody and support issues, and you will need their expertise to guide you along this complicated path. The question of which parent will retain the physical custody of any children often leads to bitter court battles, with each parent arguing about their rights as a father or mother. Accusations may fly, tempers will escalate, and the battle can go on and on, with neither parent willing to give an inch on this subject. Each parent will argue that he or she is best suited to have custody, and proceed to explain why. The Minnesota Divorce and Family Law firm will attempt to negotiate a settlement of custody that is in the best interest of the child, but many times the case will end up in court, and it will be up to a judge to make the final decision.

Situations like this will only serve to stir up more bitterness between the parties, with the parent who has custody feeling vindicated, and the one who has lost the battle being more angry and upset. The children are the ones who will suffer because of the consequences, which is why the Minnesota Divorce and Family Law firm will work diligently to avoid this and work out an agreeable custody arrangement that satisfies both parties.

Most of the time, due to the skillful negotiations of the attorney’s at the Minnesota Divorce and Family Law firm who will work with you and the attorney your spouse has hired will be able reach a settlement before the divorce ends up in litigation. There are times, however where one of the lawyers becomes too aggressive on behalf of his or her client, and will advise the client to refuse any settlement, thus ending up in court in spite of everything. Beware of any lawyer who seems overly pushy or aggressive. This does not bode well for you, especially if you are willing to settle out of court.

Most situations can and will be resolved. It may take a bit longer than you expected, but if the outcome is an amicable agreement between the two parties, the time it takes to reach this agreement will be worth it in the long run. The Minnesota Divorce and Family Law firm knows this, and this is the goal they will work toward. The best thing you can do is to follow their advice, listen to the suggestions the professionals give you, and know that they are looking out for your best interests.

Brown Family Law is a Minnesota Divorce and Family Law Firm of divorce lawyers and attorneys focusing on Divorce and Family Law cases. Our attorneys represent clients throughout Minneapolis and the Twin Cities area. Call or contact us or visit our Minnesota Divorce and Family Law Blog for information and guidance in contested divorce, uncontested divorce, child custody cases, child support, and more.

A dear friend of mine decided to go to law school at fifty years of age. This is something that she had always wanted to do but did not have the time or finances for until she was fifty. The first year of school she worked full time as a social worker in the same agency with me along with taking three classes. I could not believe that she was able to complete the tasks that she needed to do for our high stress jobs in addition to studying and reading for her classes. She did say that the one thing she was not prepared for was the law school essay. She has always had an easy time taking test, but the law school essay is a completely new concept for her.

Two of the first classes she was taking had only one grade for the class and that was the score that you received on the written exam at the end of the semester. The reason they have some up with the law school essay is to have the students practice placing what they are learning into their own words. The thought is that writing the essays will help the student when they need to write briefs for court hearings. It also helps them learn to defend their stance on a certain point of law. For the timed tests the student is allowed to bring a lap top computer to the class; however it does need to be thoroughly examined to insure that the person is not cheating. I was surprised when my friend told me that the majority of the students hand write their law school essay rather than use a computer. She does this the majority of the time because her husband uses the lap top computer for work and so he does not want to risk losing information when the school checks the computer prior to the tests.

The students also have to wait for a long period of time to get the scores from the tests because each law school essay has to be read by the professor teaching the course. This must be a tedious job for the professors when they have to deal with several different students with various kinds of hand writing. They use this same procedure for the bar exam that each student needs to pass prior to becoming a practicing attorney. The bar exam is given over a two day period and includes one day of multiple choice questions and one day of more law school essay questions. Both portions of the exam are timed.

The essay portion includes five areas of the law. My friend had a difficult time the first time she took the bar exam because one of the questions was on tax law, which she does not have a great deal of interest in. This one essay kept her from passing the bar. She then had to study and wait for six months before taking the test again. She was able to pass the exam the second time she took it and is now a practicing attorney.