Guiding families and individuals through times of change...
Whether you’re dealing with the end of a marriage or struggling with post-divorce conflicts, you can trust our family & divorce team to effectively and compassionately represent you during complex, often highly emotional legal proceedings.
Our experienced attorneys assist clients using both traditional litigation and mediation to resolve a host of family issues, including:
Mediation
Offering satisfactory resolution of issues without the expense, time and adverse nature of litigation.
Meet Family Law Attorney Allison Fredrickson
Hear How We Help Our Clients
About 2 years ago, I reached out to the Family Law Team at Eckberg Lammers after another local professional referred me to them. We’ve been working together ever since and they are nothing short of phenomenal. They are professional, realistic, and knowledgeable and I cannot say enough good things about them. I highly recommend the family law team at Eckberg Lammers.
M.V.
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
I WANT TO GET DIVORCED WHERE DO I START?
The starting point is different for everyone. If you and your spouse are amicable in your decision to divorce, see what agreements can be make such as property division and/or parenting time, then bring your decisions to an attorney to help finalize. If your divorce is contentious, then you should contact an attorney.
WHEN IS THE PERFECT TIME TO GET DIVORCED?
While there is no “perfect” time to get divorced, certain lifestyle changes may make timing an important factor. Such as: career changes, graduating children, secretive spouse, long-term marriage, and emotional considerations.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT AN UNCONTESTED DIVORCE
This type of divorce reflects a situation where you and your spouse agree on all or the majority of issues in your case. Even if you do not agree on all of the issues, it only takes a few additional steps to achieve a full agreement. Review the uncontested divorce process from start to finish.
WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM AN INITIAL CONSULT?
We offer a half-hour free consultation, which includes an overview of the divorce process, applicable laws, and answering any immediate questions.
HOW IS CHILD SUPPORT CALCULATED?
Minnesota uses the ‘Basic Support Guideline’ to determine ‘basic child support obligation’. Some of the factions used to determine the obligation include: amount of parenting time spent with each child; medical and dental insurance premiums; daycare costs, number of non-joint children that live with you; amount of previous child support orders; and receipt of benefits such as Medical Assistance and child care assistance.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT A CONTESTED DIVORCE
This type of divorce is when the parties disagree on the majority of issues and are likely not in a good place to communicate with each other. Review the contested divorce process from start to finish.
Five Reasons for Family Law Mediation
Divorce and Family Law Mediation, the affordable and sensible alternative.
In the News
Blog Posts
- Modifying Spousal Maintenance and Child Support During the COVID-19 Crisis
- Custody and Parenting Time in Light of the Covid-19
- Family Law Case Studies
- Unmarried Parents Rights and Responsibilities
- What is an Uncontested Divorce?
- What is Mediation?
- Divorce and Tax Considerations 2019
- Things to Consider in a Second Marriage
- Five Reasons for Family Law Mediation
- Parental Alienation
- Cohabitation Agreements
Family Law Attorney Allison Fredrickson has litigated a broad range of child custody and parenting time matters in her fifteen years of practice. She has also settled countless cases without the need for litigation. Below are examples of cases where our clients were satisfied with the outcome and the children “won”.
Each case has its own unique set of circumstances. Just because one cases facts are similar to another does not mean that the result will be the same. In family law cases, you are dealing with two parents, often two attorneys, a mediator or other professional and a Judge. This is why it is best if the parties agree on things together and use the common goal of their child’s best interest to guide them.
Child Custody – Modification of Parenting Plan
In a recent case, two parents initially put together their own parenting plan, when they were divorcing and their children were very young. At the time, the parties thought it was best and that they didn’t need attorneys and thought they could efficiently co-parent with an open line of communication. What they didn’t take into account was all the changes that would take place in the future - because they didn’t have a family law attorney to guide them and anticipate struggles they may have down the road.
Fast forward several years, their young children are in school, there are new partners with children of their own, new jobs and schedules and the list goes on. Their communication became contentious and disjoined, they were no longer able to co-parent and make decisions together. They each eventually ended up consulting family law attorneys After sitting down in two mediation sessions, it was determined that the parties had grown too distant to be able to effectively co-parent under their current arrangement and have communication back and forth between them regarding their children and their well-being.
Attorney Fredrickson prepared pleadings outlining her client’s position and argued each of the best interest factors and how her client’s position supported the children’s’ best interest. The arguments centered on what was best for the children, rather than what was convenient for either of the parents. The Judge ordered the schedule as Attorney Fredrickson proposed, which lessened the amount of communicating back and forth that the parents had to do. The parents also entered into blended family therapy to try and figure out a new protocol for communication, keeping in mind that they were still the parents of two young children and needed to keep the decision making between them, not involving their new significant others.
Child Custody – Mediation & Parenting Plan
Another recent case involved a divorcing couple who had some simple financial issues in their dissolution case, but their parenting time issues were more complicated. Each of them had concerns about the others ability to parent. Attorney Fredrickson negotiated the financial issues in one session of mediation so that the parties could feel successful moving forward - that they had been able to come together and accomplish something. This helped pave the way for the child-focused mediation session.
Before doing this session, because the parties differed so much in basic parenting views, it was suggested by the attorneys that the parties take a parenting class/coaching session that would give them some basic structures for co-parenting and help them both have the same information going into mediation. Through this, they were able to develop some common rules about parenting their children so that they could have consistency in both homes. They also came up with some rules about communication between the two of them to ease tension. This outside source helped them when they had to navigate through their parenting plan in mediation and proceed with an uncontested divorce with neither party having to appear in court, saving them a lot of money and time.
Tools To Help
We understand life is demanding and the added stress of legal proceedings may leave you feeling overwhelmed. That’s why we provide the following services to try and make the process less stressful: