Child Custody and Visitation Attorney in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tell us about a memorable custody dispute you handled.
Tell us about a memorable custody dispute you handled.
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of a young man he was a he’s a marine
still is a marine but when i when i um
took the case on
he was stationed in virginia
his
child was born there his wife moved to
minnesota
with the child
when the child was about six months old
at first
she would allow the father to to come
and see the child but um after
within a few months of that she stopped
allowing him to see the kid
she would say well i’ll be home you can
come up and see him come up on such a
date
and he would come up and she would be
gone she would have disappeared with
this child and the child wouldn’t be
there
the first time he saw his child within
within about two years was when she
filed for child support
and
i was representing him and i arranged
for him to have some parenting time he
came up he had some parenting time with
the child went back to virginia
and then
we were working trying to work through
mediation but talks stalled and she
again
stopped letting him see his child we
went to court we went before the judge
the judge said
this child
is going to go see his son
and he was allowed to fly his son back
to virginia for
about a week this was when i think the
child was about three years old already
three and a half years
and so that was working out and i kept
trying to work with the mother she went
through attorney after attorney
and we never got anywhere with it so
finally
we had a trial
i had this track record of her failing
to
allow father to have parenting time with
with his child even though
when they first divorced she agreed to
equal parenting time with the son
for whatever reasons it took four years
finally after the trial
my client was awarded sole legal and
sole physical custody
of the minor child because the wife
resisted
his parenting time so much
and to this day
the child is now six
and his father is relocated to another
state but he is still
solely in his father’s care
and mother has somewhat dropped off the
face of the earth so that was a
particularly rewarding case it took four
years three four years but
this father is now seeing his son
Minneapolis, MN family law attorney Michael Fink tells the story of a memorable custody dispute he successfully handled. He recalls a particularly challenging case involving a young man, a Marine, who was stationed in Virginia when his child was born. The mother moved to Minnesota with the child. Initially, she allowed the father to visit, but within a few months, she began preventing him from seeing his son. She would set dates for visits, but when he arrived, she had disappeared with the child.
For nearly two years, the father had no contact with his son. The first time he saw the child again was when the mother filed for child support. Representing the father, he arranged for limited parenting time, allowing the father to visit briefly in Virginia. Mediation efforts stalled, and the mother again blocked access, forcing the matter into court.
Before a judge, it was ordered that the father could see his son and even fly him back to Virginia for a week when the child was about three and a half years old. Despite ongoing attempts to work with the mother, who went through multiple attorneys, progress was minimal.
After four years of litigation, the case went to trial. Given the mother’s repeated resistance to parenting time, the father was ultimately awarded sole legal and sole physical custody of the child. Today, the child, now six, remains solely in his father’s care, despite the father relocating to another state, while the mother has largely disappeared from the child’s life. It was a particularly rewarding case, demonstrating the importance of perseverance and commitment to the child’s best interests.
