Divorce Support Forums: Filing Motions in MN Courts

Filing Motions in the Court is not that difficult. I divorced over three years in a MN court and have been involved in almost continuous litigation since. I have represented myself for the most in this time. Sometimes it has gone well other times not so well but I have been able to keep my chin up though it has taken a couple of good right crosses. I am not an attorney but my new wife is beginning to study to be one.

The forms for filing a Notice of Motion and Motion are available on the MN Courts web sites (Google MN Court forms). With a basic motion you are also required to file an affidavit in support. Motions are best if keep short and sweet. Get into the details in the affidavit. It has been my experience the judges very rarely read them anyway especially prior to any hearing. I have no experience with parenting evaluators as my children were older and my ex brainwashed them against me (some day they will come around and learn the actual truth). Take all the time you can get with your daughter and always fight for more but don't use her against her mother.

When is the divorce hearing scheduled? 13 months seems like a long time.

As far as the you ex not listing or selling the home you can bring a contempt motion against her. It is a bit more complicated but I can help with a bit of advice offline if you want. I gave the ex three homes and two vehicles plus took on all of the marital debt (how stupid can that be). She never made another payment on any of them which eventually forced me into bankruptcy.

As far as the temporary spousal maintenance you can bring a motion to reduce the amount by stating she is not paying the mortgage. Most likely the mortgage payment was a primary consideration in determining the amount of $500/month. I would not expect much though until your divorce is final. You have to keep making the payment until you get an order otherwise or your ex can easily file a motion holding you in contempt.

Also your ex is no longer a part of your life. It is really none of her business who you are with or what you are doing. Don't say anything to her. If she wants to make outrageous statements in court call her to account on the source of her information and demand proof. Hearsay is just that something someone says about someone else without any concrete proof (of course the courts will tend to listen to single mothers) so use good judgement.

Also the child support laws have changed. You should be able to get the level set with the new laws if your case if finalized this year. If you and your ex make similar levels of income then the amount of child support should be less especially since you do have visitation time which is taken into account. The Child support web page has a good calculator to tell you what it would be (it is exactly what the judges and magistrates use). check it out and see what it does for you. For myself the new laws resulted in an almost $400/month savings for the one child I am still supporting.

Good luck and if you need any more help let me know. Again I am not an attorney just someone who has been there and has got the t-shirt.