The Practice Blawg

Minnesota Supreme Court Adopts New E-Filing Rules; Mandatory E-Filing to begin in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties

Bob Striker — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:30:41 +0000

Last Thursday, the Minnesota Supreme Court adopted final e-filing rules as amendments to the Civil Rules, General Rules of Practice, and the Public Access Rules. These new rules go into effect on September 1, 2012 and apply to all matters commenced on or after September 1.

Perhaps most significantly, the final rules mandate electronic filing of all documents by attorneys representing parties in, and government agencies appearing in, all general civil and family law cases in the Second and Fourth Judicial Districts (i.e., Ramsey and Hennepin Counties) other than Conciliation Court and Probate/Mental Health cases. Attorneys and government agencies must also electronically serve all documents required or permitted to be served on other registered attorneys and government agencies in such cases.

While we suggest that you download the new rules by clicking on the link above, here are some additional points that may be of interest to you:

Filing by fax will no longer be permitted in cases where e-filing is required.
Documents that are to be filed electronically must be formatted as Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, PDF files, or .tif files. Without leave from the court, all images must be in black and white – no color images will be retained by the e-filing system.
Each electronic document must be smaller than 5MB and each filing must be smaller than 25 MB. Larger documents or filings may be filed in several parts.
Attorneys representing parties and governmental agencies appearing in mandatory e-filing cases must register with the e-filing system upon filing of any document by any party.
New Rule 14.06 establishes a procedure for designating confidential or sealed documents that will be filed electronically.
In addition to the required e-filing described above, voluntary e-filing is permitted in conciliation and probate mental health courts in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties as designated by the respective courts. Voluntary e-filing in civil cases in other pilot locations designated by the state court administrator will continue to be permitted.

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Joint Physical Custody Bill Vetoed

Bob Striker — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:35:44 +0000

We wanted to give you a quick update on our recent post about HF322, the bill that modified the presumptions regarding joint physical custody. Yesterday, Governor Dayton vetoed the bill. You can read his veto letter here. In the letter, Governor Dayton proposes active collaboration with the Legislature in the next session, so it’s likely that this issue will return next year.

UPDATE: A reader correctly notes that Governor Dayton did not actually veto HF322. Instead, as he noted in his letter above, he chose to not sign the bill or deposit it with the Secretary of State, thereby resulting in a pocket veto.

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New QuickBooks Trust Accounting Guide

Andrea Hable — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:26:03 +0000

A new trust accounting guide, Keeping Client Trust Accounts with QuickBooks Online Essentials (2012), is now posted at practicelaw. Mike Trittipo, the MSBA’s director of technology, has been drafting and editing the guides that walk through setting up trust accounting in in various software programs since 1998, when he started with Using QuickBooks 6.0 for Lawyers’ Trust Accounting. There are currently six guides available, three of which use a QuickBooks product. In addition to setting up your trust accounting in QuickBooks Online, the guide also provides a nice overview of the requirements and general principles of client trust accounting, and is worth a read even if you keep your accounts in a different program.

Something special about the trust accounting guides is that last year we decided to make them available to the public. The change was partly inspired by Minnesota Legal Ethics, which we also published last year, and also motivated by the overarching desire to better the legal profession. You can read more about the decision here.

So, if you want a copy of the guide:

Members can download the guide here.

Non-members go here and fill out the form to request a guide. You will receive an email with a link to download the guide.

The Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board has more general information about keeping trust accounts in Appendix 1 to the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct (Maintenance of Books and Records).

What accounting software (if any) do you use for your trust accounting? Did you get help setting up your trust accounting or figure it out on your own?

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Joint Physical Custody Bill on Governor’s Desk

Nancy Hupp — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:17:19 +0000

Last week we posted about a a bill, HR 322, that would raise Minnesota’s baseline custody presumption from 25% to 35%. Since our post, the Senate passed HF322. The MSBA Family Law Section opposes this legislation. The House had previously passed a version of the bill that set the presumption at 45.1% and only allowed the presumption to be overcome by proving, to a clear and convincing standard, the type of mistreatment that would trigger child protection proceedings. In the end, the House author asked her colleagues to concur with the Senate version; the House did so and the bill’s fate is now controlled by Gov. Dayton, who has not indicated whether he will sign it or veto it.

The Family Law Section Chair has written a letter asking Governor Dayton to veto the proposed legislation. To contact the Governor and express your views, please use this link.

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New Developments in Family Law

Andrea Hable — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:29:37 +0000

Lots happening to impact the practice of family law…

New Rules

Amended family law rules went into effect on May 1. You can read the amendments here.

Of note, the changes update terminology, streamline proceedings, and create three new forms. The changes came out of Divorce Camp 2009, with goals of making the rules reflect current practice in the District Courts and of making the rules more user-friendly for pro se litigants.

New Forms

The new rules require three new forms for all actions pending on the effective date of May 1 and to those filed thereafter.

Parenting/Financial Disclosure Statement
Certificate of Settlement Efforts
Initial Case Management Statement

These new forms are available at the Minnesota Judicial Branch website.

H.F. 322: Presumption of Joint Custody

This controversial bill is currently in the Senate. From the MSBA’s Capitol Connection email and blog:

JOINT PHYSICAL CUSTODY BILL ADVANCES IN SENATE

HF322, a bill that would alter Minnesota’s parenting time baseline presumption, was heard for a second time in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it was re-referred after being altered in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The Judiciary Committee voted to send the bill, which is opposed by the Family Law Section, to the Senate Finance Committee without a recommendation. The version of the bill that passed the House last month would raise the current presumption of 25% physical custody to 45.1%, and would only allow the presumption to be overcome by proving, to a clear and convincing standard, the type of mistreatment that would trigger child protection proceedings. The presumption would therefore override the longstanding “best interests of the child” factors in most contested cases. The Senate Judiciary Committee eliminated most of the House language and set the presumption at 35%.

The Senate Finance Committee passed the bill today and sent it to the Senate floor. If the bill becomes law, a wave of custody modification requests is expected to strain the court system, but no plan has been offered to cover the increased costs, which, because of delayed effective dates, may not occur until the state’s next fiscal biennium.

Future updates will be posted here.

South Dakota recently rejected a similar bill. Consider contacting your local elected official to express any concerns about this bill.

practicelaw Family Law Forms and Advisory Group

I’m working on expanding the family law forms library on practicelaw. Of note:

A few months ago we added a Complaint to Establish Paternity (FAM-300), thanks to Central Minnesota Legal Services. Last week we updated it to reflect the new Rule 314 (Parentage Proceedings).
We are planning to add forms regarding custody outside of a dissolution, adoption (step and international), and third-party custody, plus a few other miscellaneous forms.
The J&D is regularly reviewed and updated. If you have a suggested change, please let me know. The form is here (FAM-680)

We need help with our new forms! We are in need of forms for international adoption and a financial affidavit for child support – if you have one that you would be willing to share, we will edit and format and give you credit on practicelaw.

We would also like to assemble a group of family law practitioners who we (I) can consult from time to time to ask questions as I update our forms. If you are interested in answering questions or reviewing language occasionally, please let me know. You can contact me by email.

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