Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota
change of judge
My mother is taking me to court to get grandparent rights of my two children. I just got through a 2 year divorce. The court date for me and my mother was set with a judge and couple days later I recieved another notice stating the judge was changed to my judge I had for the divorce...which made me very happy being as my mother is not a stable woman and my judge knows this!! Days later I recieved a notice from the court that my mother and her attorney are attempting to have my judge removed. Is this possible (it is within the time limit) and if so what can I do to prevent this? The clerk for my judge stated that it is up to the judge if she wants to be removed. PLEASE HELP!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: change of judge
Thank you for your question. Here's what you need to know about removing judges.
First, when a new case file is opened, each party is given "one free strike." That is, each party has the automatic right to remove one judge from the file, for any reason. The party must exercise its right to remove a judge within 10 days of the date the judge is assigned. After ten days, neither party can object to a judge and request reassignment unless there is some evidence the judge is biased or has a conflict of interest.
If the case is later reassigned to a different judge, each party that has not yet used its "one free strike" can request that the new judge be removed from the case -- provided the request to remove the newly assigned judge is done within 10 days of the date the new judge is assigned.
In some cases, it is not clear when a case is a "new matter." The motion for grand parent visitation, for example, is a new proceeding, but involves children that are already subject to an ongoing family court proceeding. Some judges take the position that this is not really a new matter, and will not honor a request to step down from a case, unless there is evidence of a conflict of interest or bias, which is not likely going to be shown. This is to discourage parties from "forum shopping." Since I presume this is a Hennepin County case, I would guess the judge will keep the case, since Hennepin tends to put all family matters (divorce, domestic abuse petitions, grandparent visitation motions) before the same judge.
Please contact my office if you require further information or advice.
Good luck.
Re: change of judge
It is possible to remove the Judge before that Judge has heard any proceedings on the grandparent's visitation issue, assuming that your mother filed a separate petition for granparent's rights rather than intervening in the divorce proceedings.
How she filed her action can have a pivotal impact on the outcome.
For a consultation for representation call 612.240.8005.
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