Child Custody

What happens to the children? That is the single most important issue when parents are not together. The attorneys in Messerli Kramer’s Family Law group use our extensive child custody experience to guide clients as they work through this issue. We help parents who are divorced and those who are not married establish initial custody and parenting time arrangement, as well as assist them when circumstances change in the future. Parents put their trust in our Family Law attorneys from beginning to end.

Representative Experience

• Represented relatives seeking third-party custody in obtaining sole legal and sole physical custody of their grandchildren, nieces, and nephews after being subjected to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; neglect; and exposure to drugs by their parents.

• Represented numerous fathers and mothers through Order for Protections and their subsequent dissolutions, with favorable custody and parenting time arrangements.

• Represented individual wrongly accused of abuse in obtaining custody and parenting time.

• Represented aunt and uncle seeking custody of their niece and nephew before the Minnesota Supreme Court, establishing a seminal precedent and leading to a revision of Minnesota’s third-party custody and visitation statutes.

• Represented client in negotiation of award for sole legal and physical custody in high-conflict case involving complex chemical dependency and mental health issues.

• Represented numerous clients residing in other states or countries with divorce and custody matters, addressing implications under the Hague Convention and Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act in state and federal courts.

Professionals