St. Paul Family Law And Estate Planning Blog

Couples facing divorce in Minnesota have many issues to consider as they decide the best way to move forward. Alimony numbers among top concerns for spouses who worry about having to pay amounts they cannot afford as well as for those who wonder how they will make it financially after the split.

Minnesota law formally refers to alimony as spousal maintenance. Courts have a fairly wide range of discretion as they apply statutory factors to decide whether to award maintenance and to set amounts. Couples may also settle the issue of maintenance through a prenup or a divorce agreement.

With the start of a new year comes the opportunity for you to make resolutions to change your life in Oakdale for the better. As you contemplate ways to put an end to old habits and develop new ones, the one aspect you do not want to overlook is your end-of-life needs. Though you are in the prime of your life, you might not want to think about when you are old, sick, dying and unable to care for yourself. Because people are living longer, the chances of you living longer than expected are higher. 

Your estate plans are more than a list of instructions for your loved ones to distribute your assets. They are documents that give certain legal permissions to individuals you choose to represent you. Here is a brief overview of essential documents you should include in your estate plans. 

Human beings are social creatures, and that social impulse often motivates us to be influenced by the behaviors of the people around us. You might have heard of the spread of so-called baby fever, which increases as friends coincidentally become pregnant, but you might not be familiar with divorce fever. According to CNN, a recently published study indicates such a thing might exist.

If you have friends who have recently divorced, it certainly is not a death sentence for your own marriage. It may, however, influence your view of separation and allow you to consider it as an option. The following are a few other reasons divorce may seem contagious among friends and family:

Divorce these days is very different than it was just a generation or two ago. Couples divorcing in the 21^st century find themselves facing issues that their parents or grandparents might never have even considered. For example, the majority of today's dissolution cases involve some form of evidence derived from social media, networking sites, email or text messages.

Another area in which the modern-day divorce is quite different from those of the past is the issue of digital and electronic assets. While intangible assets - particularly things like stock portfolios or the goodwill/reputation value of a closely held business - have always been part of divorce property settlement, today there are whole categories of digital, online and wholly electronic properties that must be carefully valued and divided.