Minnesota Child Custody Lawyer

Third-Party Custody Modification

Third Parties, grandparents and other relatives often become the primary care-providers and role models for children in situations where the biological parents are missing or unfit due to negligence, drug use, alcoholism, abuse or financial inability to care for the child. The likelihood of being awarded third party custody depends generally on the amount of time the child has been with the individual or individuals in question and the nature of their contacts. If you would like to seek custody of a child who is not your biological offspring, it is absolutely essential to secure the sound legal counsel of a Minnesota divorce attorney.

Minnesota Statutes § 257C.03 governs the procedure for petitioning for child custody as an interested third party or de facto custodian. An interested third party can be a grandparent, aunt, uncle or other family member or person who can show that the parent has abandoned, neglected, or otherwise exhibited disregard for the child's well-being to the extent that the child will be harmed by living with the parent. "De facto custodian" means an individual who has been the primary caretaker for a child who has, within the 24 months immediately preceding the filing of the petition, resided with the individual without a parent present and with a lack of demonstrated consistent participation by a parent for a specified period of time.

Contact a Child Custody Lawyer in Minnesota for Third-Party Cases

At Heimerl & Lammers, we are very experienced in all the legal issues surrounding third party custody. If you are caring for a child for whom you are not the biological parent, it's important to file a motion for custody while the child is still living with you. Even though the child may be living with you, you do not have any legal right to make decisions for the child or perhaps even to seek medical care on behalf of the child until the court specifically orders it. If the biological parents take the child before you file the motion, custody is broken and it limits the consistent amount of care you provide to the child.

Contact a Minnesota child custody lawyer if you would like to the third party custody of a child or children.