Brainerd Minnesota Law Blog

Seems like two real dumb questions, we all know a motor vehicle is a car or truck, and driving is when we are going down the road in them. But, that old rule your teacher told you about there being no such thing as a dumb question is true here. State law defines motor vehicles differently than many of us do for purposes of the drunk driving laws. 

Family courts often encourage parents to create a parenting time schedule. When both parents live in Minnesota, this could mean that children regularly spend time in both homes. Many children spend weekdays with one parent and weekends with the other. In cases where the children live in a different state than one of their parents, noncustodial parents may need to be more creative to ensure that children benefit from constant communication.

The noncustodial parents may keep in touch with their children after divorce through phone calls, video calls and social media. Because noncustodial parents don't see their children every day, social media could give them insight into their children's lives.

Minnesota residents who watch shows like 'CSI" on television may be surprised to learn that questions have been raised about the validity of forensic evidence and the qualifications of the experts who provide it. After studying the way hairs, fingerprints and fibers are gathered and processed, a panel of scientists, academics and legal experts found problems with virtually every technique and concluded that the interpretation of forensic evidence is often based on subjective factors rather than science. Their findings were published in 2009 by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

The NAS report was especially critical of blood pattern analysis. This is a technique forensic experts use to determine the sequence of events at a crime scene based on blood drips, smears and splatter. The NAS experts found little in the way of solid science to back up BPA and discovered that its practitioners often lacked accreditation and proper training. Findings such as these are particularly worrying for groups advocating for criminal justice reform because juries tend to find this kind of evidence extremely convincing.

People in Minnesota may experience various conflicts and changes in their relationships. When people get married, they may intend to stay together for the rest of their lives. However, as people change and grow, they can find themselves at odds with their spouse. They may have conflicts over career or parenthood, or they may suffer issues with addiction, infidelity or even abuse. In other cases, they may simply find themselves growing in different directions, especially if they married at a younger age or experienced significant upheaval in their lives. There are some indicators that experts say reveal when couples are more likely to end their marriage.

Contempt is one issue cited as a common sign that divorce is in the future. For example, a spouse may not consider a partner at all in making decisions about major issues, like elective health procedures or a big career move. This can indicate that the spouses no longer see each other as an important factor in each other's lives or that they do not have respect for the other person's opinion. In other cases, contempt can be shown much more clearly, as when one spouse calls the other names, mocks them openly or speaks about them dismissively.