Child Custody Lawyer Minnesota

Custody conflicts can deeply affect your child’s sense of safety and daily life. Reach out to our child custody lawyers to safeguard your parental rights and your child’s well-being.

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Martine Law PLLC | Updated October 23, 2026

Martine Law represents parents in Minnesota child custody and parenting time cases, including cases in Minneapolis and Hennepin County. Minnesota courts decide custody based on the child’s best interests, using twelve factors set by statute, and they presume joint legal custody when either parent asks for it. If domestic abuse has occurred between the parents, the presumption reverses. We handle initial custody cases, temporary and emergency orders, parenting time schedules, modifications, and enforcement.

What does a Minnesota child custody lawyer handle?

Custody questions come up at different points in a family’s life. Martine Law handles:

  • Custody in a divorce or legal separation, including the parenting time schedule and decision-making.
  • Custody between unmarried parents, where a custody and parenting time order has never been entered.
  • Temporary and emergency orders while a case is pending. See our guide to emergency custody orders in Minnesota.
  • Parenting plans that parents build together.
  • Modification of an existing custody order or parenting plan.
  • Enforcement when the other parent does not follow the order.

For a full walk-through of the law, read our guide to child custody in Minnesota.

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

Minnesota splits custody into two parts.

Legal custody is the right to determine the child’s upbringing, including education, health care, and religious training. With joint legal custody, both parents have equal rights and responsibilities, including the right to take part in major decisions about the child’s upbringing.

Physical custody is the routine daily care and control of the child and where the child lives. With joint physical custody, that daily care and residence is structured between the parents.

Parenting time is the time a parent spends with the child, regardless of the custody label.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.003, subdivisions 3 and 5, definitions

Parents who agree on a parenting plan may use other terms in place of physical and legal custody, as long as the plan defines them. A parenting plan must include a parenting time schedule, a designation of decision-making responsibilities, and a method of dispute resolution. When both parents ask for a parenting plan, the court must create one instead of a standard custody order unless it makes detailed findings that the proposed plan is not in the child’s best interests.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.1705, parenting plans

How do Minnesota courts decide child custody?

The court decides custody and parenting time on the child’s best interests. The statute lists twelve factors, including:

  • The child’s physical, emotional, cultural, spiritual, and other needs.
  • Any special medical, mental health, developmental, or educational needs.
  • The child’s reasonable preference, if the child is mature enough to express one.
  • Whether domestic abuse has occurred and how it affects the child’s safety.
  • Each parent’s history of caregiving and willingness to provide ongoing care.
  • The effect of changes to the child’s home, school, and community.
  • The benefit to the child of maximizing parenting time with both parents.
  • Each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent, and the parents’ ability to cooperate.

The court must make detailed findings on each factor and explain how they lead to its decision. It may not use one factor to the exclusion of all others, and it may not prefer one parent over the other because of gender.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, best interests of the child

Does Minnesota favor joint custody?

For legal custody, yes. When either or both parents ask for it, the court presumes joint legal custody is in the child’s best interests. That presumption flips when domestic abuse has occurred between the parents: then the court presumes joint legal or physical custody is not in the child’s best interests. Apart from that domestic abuse presumption, there is no presumption for or against joint physical custody, and joint physical custody does not require an absolutely equal division of time.

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

Who has custody when parents were never married?

When a child’s mother was not married to the father when the child was conceived or born, the mother has sole custody until paternity is established or custody is decided in a separate proceeding under section 518.156. Once paternity is established, the father may ask for custody or parenting time, and the court applies the same best interest and parenting time statutes, 518.17 and 518.175.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 257.541, custody and parenting time with children born outside of marriage

A Recognition of Parentage is not itself a custody or parenting time order. Under section 257.541, subdivision 3, a father who has recognized paternity may bring a separate action for custody or parenting time. Bring any Recognition of Parentage, paternity judgment and existing orders so an attorney can identify which process applies.

How much parenting time will each parent get?

On either parent’s request, the court must grant parenting time that lets the child and parent maintain a relationship that is in the child’s best interests. Absent other evidence, Minnesota presumes each parent should receive at least 25 percent of the parenting time. The percentage can be measured by overnights or another method. If either party asks, the order must include a specific schedule.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 1, parenting time

If the court finds after a hearing that parenting time with a parent is likely to endanger the child’s physical, mental, or emotional health or safety, or impair the child’s emotional development, it must restrict that parenting time as to time, place, duration, or supervision, and may deny it entirely.

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

What happens if a parent denies court-ordered parenting time?

Each parent must follow the custody and parenting time order unless both agree otherwise in writing. When a parent has been deprived of court-ordered parenting time, the court must order compensatory parenting time, taken within one year. Repeated and intentional interference can also lead to:

  • Reimbursement of costs the other parent incurred because of the interference.
  • A court sanction payable to the other parent.
  • A change of custody under the modification statute.
  • Contempt of court.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 6, remedies

Can a custody order be changed in Minnesota?

Yes, but the law favors stability. Unless the parents agree in writing, a motion to modify a custody order or parenting plan cannot be made earlier than one year after entry of a divorce or legal separation decree that deals with custody, and after a modification motion is decided on its merits, another cannot be filed for two years. Those time limits do not apply if the court finds persistent and willful denial of or interference with parenting time, or has reason to believe the child’s present environment may endanger the child’s physical or emotional health or impair the child’s emotional development.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.18, paragraphs (a) through (c), modification of order

To modify custody, the court must find that circumstances have changed and that the change is necessary to serve the child’s best interests. The court keeps the existing arrangement unless a listed ground applies, such as:

  • Both parents agree to the modification.
  • The child has been integrated into the family of the parent asking for the change, with the other parent’s consent.
  • The child’s present environment endangers the child’s physical or emotional health or impairs the child’s emotional development, and the advantage of a change outweighs the harm it would cause.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.18, paragraph (d)

Changes to the decision-making provisions of a parenting plan or parenting time order are made when they serve the child’s best interests and would not change the child’s primary residence. Parenting time can be restricted only if the court finds it is likely to endanger the child or impair the child’s emotional development, or that a parent has chronically and unreasonably failed to follow court-ordered parenting time.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 5, modification of parenting time

Child custody cases in Minneapolis and Hennepin County

Custody cases involving a Minneapolis family are typically heard in Hennepin County Family Court, which handles divorce, domestic abuse, child custody and support, and paternity cases at the Hennepin County Government Center downtown.

Source: Minnesota Judicial Branch, Hennepin County Family Court

In a proceeding under chapter 518 where parents disagree about custody or the parenting time schedule, the court generally orders at least eight hours of approved parent education. The court may excuse a parent who requests an exemption and shows good cause. If domestic abuse is alleged, the court must arrange safe participation and cannot require the parents to attend the same sessions. A parent who qualifies for a court filing-fee waiver is exempt from the program fee.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.157, parent education program

Martine Law also handles divorce cases in Minneapolis where custody is one of several open issues.

Questions people ask

What does joint legal custody mean in Minnesota?

Both parents have equal rights and responsibilities, including the right to take part in major decisions about the child’s education, health care, and religious training.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.003, subdivision 3

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

There is no set age. The child’s reasonable preference is one of the twelve best interest factors, considered if the court finds the child mature enough to express one.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17, subdivision 1

Is 50/50 custody the default in Minnesota?

No. There is no presumption for or against joint physical custody, and joint physical custody does not require an exactly equal split of time. The default protections are a presumption of joint legal custody on request, absent domestic abuse, and a presumption of at least 25 percent parenting time for each parent.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.17 and Minnesota Statutes 518.175

How soon can I ask to change custody?

Usually not within one year after a divorce or legal separation decree dealing with custody, or within two years after a prior modification motion was decided on its merits, unless the parents agree in writing or the court finds persistent and willful interference with parenting time or possible endangerment.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.18

Can a parent move a child out of Minnesota?

Not without a court order or the other parent’s consent, if the other parent has parenting time under the decree. The court applies a best interests standard, and the parent asking to move generally carries the burden of proof. If the court finds the parent asking to move has been a victim of domestic abuse by the other parent, the burden shifts to the parent opposing the move.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.175, subdivision 3

Does child support change with custody?

Parenting time directly affects the child support calculation. See how child support is calculated in Minnesota.

What should I prepare before a custody consultation?

  • Existing custody, parenting time, child support and protective orders, plus any pending motion or hearing notice.
  • The court file number and county, and a timeline of where the child has lived.
  • A practical schedule showing school, child care, transportation and each parent’s caregiving responsibilities.
  • Specific concerns about the child’s needs or safety, with relevant records already lawfully available to you.

Tell intake staff promptly about an upcoming hearing or safety concern. Use a secure intake process for sensitive records, and ask which documents the attorney needs.

Talk with a Minnesota child custody lawyer at Martine Law

Your first conversation may be with a Director of Client Engagement (non-attorney), who helps with intake and scheduling and does not provide legal advice. An attorney can evaluate your custody questions and legal options.

Custody cases are won on specific facts: who has done the daily caregiving, what the child needs, and a parenting schedule the court can actually order. If you are starting a custody case, responding to one, or trying to change an existing order, contact Martine Law PLLC or call 612-482-9475. Tell us the county and whether a case is already open.

This page provides general information about Minnesota custody law and is not legal advice for any specific case.