Saint Paul Family Law Blog

In Minnesota, child support orders are based on the parents' income. A non-custodial parent or even a parent who shares custody may be ordered to pay child support to the other parent in order to support the child's lifestyle and standard of living. However, those orders are based on a snapshot of a time when the order is put into place. Of course, a parent's lifestyle can change over time. In particular, parents may suffer financial hardship as a result of a job loss, disability or unexpected illness. They may find themselves unable to pay their child support bills and rack up unrepayable debt.

Child support debt can cause serious damage to a parent's life. It often cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, despite the hardship a parent may be experiencing. In addition, parents may face wage garnishment; they may be unable to receive a passport, and some even face jail time. For parents struggling with financial problems and poverty, this can make the situation even more desperate. However, parents who cannot pay are not locked into a child support order issued at a better financial time. They can return to court to seek a modification of the child support assessment.

It can be a challenge for many custodial parents to receive child support in Minnesota and elsewhere. Despite a court order for child support being in place, your ex might not be paying what he or she is supposed to pay. This can understandably be frustrating and create a financial hardship. If you are not getting child support, it can be tempting to take matters into your own hands, but what are the repercussions to this?

A common response to not getting child support is to withhold visitation of the children. Many parents justify that if their ex is not paying, he or she should not get to see the children. They may think that by withholding visitation, the noncustodial parent will decide to start paying again. However, as FindLaw cautions, there are legal consequences to withholding visitation. If your parenting arrangements were outlined in your divorce decree, you would be violating a court order by not allowing your ex to see the kids, and you could be held in contempt of court. This may result in unfavorable actions, such as a modification to your custody agreement and even losing custody of your children.

Going through a divorce can be an emotional process, especially when there are children involved. Although parents may want to shield their children from experiencing the heartache of divorce, children are often the unwilling participants of a marital separation. Determining child custody may be one of the most difficult duties of the divorce process. While children may be used to living with both parents, it can be hard for children to adjust to a single-parent household. However, studies show the clear benefits of a joint-custody arrangment. 

The study, published in the Journal of Family Psychology, looked at children who were raised in joint-custody, single-parent and traditional family situations. Researchers found that kids who lived in joint-custody households had higher self-esteem, stronger family relationships and exhibited fewer emotional and behavioral problems. Furthermore, the difference of children living in a traditional family scenerio and a joint-custody family were minimal compared to that of a sole-custody situation. 

As divorcing parents in Minnesota, you must make a lot of tough decisions about how you will handle parenting after the split. Though some parents are in difficult situations that make sharing joint custody hard or even impossible, it is generally advocated to go with that option if it's reasonable to do so. But why is there so much support for joint custody?

The American Psychological Association published an article in 2002 stating that joint custody may be the best option for the children in a divorce. Studies were conducted that compared the mental and emotional well-being of the children of sole custody situations against the children of joint custody situations. Of those groups, it was the children of joint custody who showed more stability, fewer problems in school, and less difficulty making social adjustments. They were also shown to have higher self-esteem and fewer emotional or behavioral problems.