What Are the Minnesota Custody Laws?

Reviewed by the Marketing Team · Last updated October 23, 2026

Martine Law PLLC | Updated October 23, 2026

Minnesota custody law splits custody into two parts: legal custody, which covers major decisions about the child, and physical custody, which covers where the child lives and day to day care. Judges decide both using twelve best interest factors written into statute. When either parent asks for joint legal custody, the law creates a rebuttable presumption that it is in the child’s best interests. If domestic abuse has occurred between the parents, the presumption reverses against both joint legal and joint physical custody. Otherwise there is no presumption for or against joint physical custody, and joint physical custody does not require a 50/50 split.

What is the difference between legal custody and physical custody in Minnesota?

• Legal custody is the right to decide the child’s upbringing, including education, health care, and religious training.
• Joint legal custody means both parents have equal rights and responsibilities, including the right to take part in those major decisions.
• Physical custody and residence means the routine daily care and control of the child and where the child lives.
• Joint physical custody means that daily care, control, and residence are structured between both parents.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.003, subdivision 3, custody definitions

Parenting time is a separate concept. The statute defines it as the time a parent spends with the child regardless of the custody label.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.003, subdivision 5, parenting time

A custody label does not create a schedule by itself. On the request of either parent, the court must grant parenting time that lets the child and parent keep a relationship that serves the child’s best interests. The court can also reserve parenting time to be set later.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 1, paragraph (a)

In every dissolution, separation, or custody case, the court must issue orders on legal custody, which may be sole or joint, and on physical custody, parenting time, and residence.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 3, custody order

How do Minnesota courts decide custody?

The standard is the best interests of the child. The court must consider and evaluate all relevant factors, including these twelve listed in section 518.17:

1. The child’s physical, emotional, cultural, spiritual, and other needs, and how the proposed arrangement affects those needs and the child’s development.
2. Any special medical, mental health, developmental disability, or educational needs.
3. The child’s reasonable preference, if the child is mature enough to express one.
4. Whether domestic abuse has occurred in the parents’ or either parent’s household or relationship, and what it means for the child’s safety and the parenting arrangement.
5. Any physical, mental, or chemical health issue of a parent that affects the child’s safety or development.
6. Each parent’s history and nature of caregiving.
7. Each parent’s willingness and ability to provide ongoing care, meet the child’s developmental and cultural needs, and follow through with parenting time.
8. The effect of changes to the child’s home, school, and community on the child’s well-being and development.
9. The effect of the arrangement on the child’s relationships with each parent, siblings, and other important people.
10. The benefit of maximizing time with both parents and the harm of limiting either parent’s time.
11. Each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent, except where domestic abuse has occurred.
12. The parents’ ability to cooperate, share information, keep the child out of conflict, and resolve major decisions.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (a)

How do judges weigh the factors?

The judge must make detailed findings on each factor, explain how those findings led to the decision, and may not let one factor control to the exclusion of the others. The statute also sets ground rules:

• The court may not prefer one parent over the other because of gender.
• Both parents are presumed capable of a nurturing relationship with the child unless there are substantial reasons to believe otherwise.
• Conduct that does not affect the parent’s relationship with the child is not considered.
• A disability alone does not decide custody.
• The court must consider evidence of a violation of section 609.507, which makes it a crime to knowingly make a false report of child abuse or neglect intended to influence a custody hearing.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b)

The court may not deny or restrict custody or parenting time because of a parent’s disability. A party raising disability must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the parent’s specific behaviors would endanger the child, and the parent may show how supportive parenting services would address the concern.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 2a

Does Minnesota favor joint custody?

For legal custody, yes. If either parent or both parents request joint legal custody, the law presumes it is in the child’s best interests. That presumption can be rebutted with evidence. A disagreement over whether custody should be sole or joint does not, by itself, prove the parents cannot cooperate.

For physical custody, no. The statute states there is no presumption for or against joint physical custody, apart from the domestic abuse rule below.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), clauses (7) and (9)

How does domestic abuse affect custody in Minnesota?

If domestic abuse as defined in section 518B.01 has occurred between the parents, the law presumes that joint legal custody and joint physical custody are not in the child’s best interests. The court must look at the nature and context of the abuse in deciding whether that presumption has been rebutted.

Domestic abuse is also its own best interest factor, and it removes the usual expectation that a parent support the child’s relationship with the other parent.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1

Is 50/50 custody the default in Minnesota?

No. Minnesota has no 50/50 presumption. The statute says there is no presumption for or against joint physical custody, and it states directly that joint physical custody does not require an equal division of time.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), clauses (7) and (8)

What Minnesota does have is a 25 percent presumption. In the absence of other evidence, there is a rebuttable presumption that a child should receive at least 25 percent of parenting time with each parent. It is a starting point that evidence can overcome, not a guarantee. The percentage may be calculated by the number of overnights, or by another method when a parent has significant time on separate days without overnights. The court may consider the child’s age.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 1, paragraph (g)

Parents can agree to an equal schedule, and a court can order one when the factors, weighed together, support it. The schedule also drives child support, so read our guide on how child support is calculated in Minnesota before you settle on one.

How do you get full custody in Minnesota?

“Full custody” is not a statutory term. In Minnesota terms, a request for full custody is a request for sole legal custody, sole physical custody, or both.

If the other parent has requested joint legal custody, sole legal custody means rebutting the joint legal custody presumption, or showing that domestic abuse occurred between the parents so the opposite presumption applies. Domestic abuse creates a rebuttable presumption against joint custody, not an automatic sole custody award. Sole physical custody means showing that the best interest factors, taken together, support that designation. The custody label and the residential schedule are decided separately, since joint physical custody does not require equal time.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), clauses (7) to (9)

Sole physical custody does not end the other parent’s parenting time. In the initial order, if the court finds after a hearing that parenting time is likely to endanger the child’s physical or emotional health or impair the child’s emotional development, the court must restrict parenting time and may deny it as the circumstances warrant.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 1, paragraph (b)

On a later motion, parenting time can also be restricted if a parent has chronically and unreasonably failed to comply with court-ordered parenting time.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 5

Falling behind on child support because a parent cannot pay is not, on its own, enough to deny that parent parenting time.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 1, paragraph (c)

At what age can a child choose which parent to live with in Minnesota?

There is no age. Minnesota law does not let a child choose at 12, 14, or any other age. The child’s preference is one of the twelve best interest factors, and the court considers it only if the child has enough ability, age, and maturity to express an independent, reliable preference.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), clause (3)

A preference never becomes the deciding vote by law. The judge may not rely on any one factor to the exclusion of the others, and must explain in detailed findings how the preference fit into the full analysis.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), clause (1)

Can a parent move out of Minnesota with the child?

Not without permission when the other parent has been granted parenting time under the decree. The parent the child lives with may not move the child’s residence to another state without the other parent’s consent or a court order. The court will not allow a move whose purpose is to interfere with parenting time.

The parent who wants to move carries the burden of proof, unless the court finds that parent was a victim of domestic abuse by the other parent. In that case the burden shifts to the parent opposing the move.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 3, move to another state

Can a custody order be changed later?

Yes, but the law limits how soon and on what showing.

• Timing. Unless the parties agree in writing, no motion to modify custody can be filed until one year after the decree, and after a motion is decided on the merits another cannot be filed for two years.
• Exceptions to timing. The limits do not apply if the court finds persistent and willful denial of or interference with parenting time, or reason to believe the child’s present environment may endanger the child.
• The showing. The court must find, based on facts that arose after the prior order or were unknown to the court when it was entered, that circumstances have changed and that modification is necessary to serve the child’s best interests.
• Retaining the existing arrangement. The court must keep the current arrangement unless a statutory ground applies, such as both parties agreeing, the child being integrated into the other parent’s family with consent, or endangerment. For endangerment, the court must also find that the harm likely caused by a change is outweighed by its advantage to the child.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.18, paragraphs (a) to (d)

Changing a parenting time schedule is a different motion with a different standard than changing custody or the child’s primary residence.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 5

What happens if a parent withholds parenting time?

Parents must follow custody and parenting time orders unless they agree otherwise in writing. When a parent intentionally makes a substantial amount of court-ordered parenting time unavailable, the court considers compensatory parenting time of at least the same type and duration, to be taken within one year. For repeated, intentional interference, the court can order further remedies, including a custody modification, and unwarranted interference may be treated as contempt of court.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 6, remedies

Questions people ask

What are the custody laws in Minnesota for unmarried parents?

When the parents were not married at conception or birth, the mother has sole custody until paternity is established or a court decides custody in a separate proceeding. Once paternity is established, the father can ask the court for custody or parenting time, and the court applies the best interest factors in section 518.17.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 257.541, custody of children of unmarried parents

Does signing a Recognition of Parentage give a father custody?

No. A signed Recognition of Parentage does not create an enforceable right to legal custody, physical custody, or parenting time until a court awards those rights. Until a temporary or permanent order grants custody to another, the mother has sole custody. The recognition is a basis for the father to ask the court for custody or parenting time.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 257.75, subdivisions 3 and 5

Do both parents have to take a parenting class?

If the parents have not agreed on custody or a parenting time schedule, the court must order both parents to complete at least eight hours of a parent education program. Where domestic abuse is alleged, the court cannot require the parents to attend the same sessions. On a party’s request and a showing of good cause, the court may excuse that party from attending.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.157, subdivision 3

Can we get a temporary custody order while the divorce is pending?

Yes. Either party can ask for temporary custody and parenting time while the case is open, and a temporary order does not decide the final outcome. Without the other side present, the court may grant custody or deny parenting time only on a finding of immediate danger of physical harm to the children. A party who credibly alleges being denied parenting time for 14 or more consecutive days can ask for a priority hearing, which must be held within 30 days of the request.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.131, subdivisions 1, 3, and 11, temporary orders

Does the court favor mothers in Minnesota custody cases?

No. The statute bars the court from preferring one parent over the other solely because of gender.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), clause (2)

Does a parent without custody still get school and medical records?

Generally yes. Regardless of custody designation, each parent has the right to access school, medical, dental, and other important records, attend school conferences, and be notified of a child’s accident or serious illness, unless the court waives these rights to protect a party or child.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivisions 3 and 3a

For the full picture of how a Minnesota divorce works, see our guide to Minnesota divorce laws.

Talk with Martine Law about custody in Minnesota

Custody cases turn on findings. The judge has to address every factor in writing, which means the evidence you organize about caregiving history, the child’s needs, cooperation, and safety shapes the result. Martine Law handles custody and parenting time as part of Minnesota child custody cases and divorce.

If you are starting a custody case, negotiating a parenting plan, or responding to a request for sole custody, contact Martine Law PLLC or call 612-482-9475. Tell us the county and where the case stands.

This article provides general information about Minnesota custody law. The outcome of any case depends on its specific facts and the court’s findings.