Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

Re: Issues with Breaking a Lease due to an OFP

Thank you for your question, which raises several issues.

The first issue raised in your posting concerns the enforcement of an OFP. The primary means of enforcing an OFP is to contact the police and report any violation of the order by your ex-boyfriend. As you are already probably aware, the first violation of an OFP is a misdemeanor offense, and will ordinarily be charged if there is some credible evidence he has violated the terms of the order. Subsequent violations are more treated even more seriously, and are charged as gross misdemeanors, even felonies, depending on the number of previous violations and other aggravating circumstances.

An OFP can also be enforced by bringing a contempt motion. This remedy may be useful if the police do not respond to your report that the order has been violated, although this is far less effective than enforcement of the order by the imposition of criminal sanctions. In general, you would be well advised to have an attorney assist you in obtaining a contempt order.

No matter how an OFP is enforced, you can request that your ex-boyfriend be ordered to return his key. I would recommend you simply have the lock replaced, however, since he could easily copy the key before returning it. The cost of replacing the lock is a small price to pay for some greater sense of security).

You may have come to the conclusion that neither enforcement mechanism is worthwhile � either because the police don�t respond, or you think he will ignore a contempt order. Hence, you inquire about breaking your lease.

Your landlord is under no obligation to let you out of a lease, regardless of the OFP, and the court cannot order the landlord to terminate your lease. Your relationship with your ex-boyfriend is, for the most part, legally irrelevant to your landlord. If your ex-boyfriend trespasses on the property (by gaining unauthorized entry to areas ordinarily open to tenants only), he can be charged with trespass. But I doubt your landlord will let you out of your lease unless there is another tenant ready to fill the unit, and even that may require a little careful negotiation with your landlord.

Good luck. If you have further questions, you may feel free to contact me at your convenience. My contact information is below.

Re: Issues with Breaking a Lease due to an OFP

If you have a lease, it is a contract and you can be held to its terms. you have no options other than to negotiate with your landlord to allow you out of your lease or to sublease and seek your landlord's consent on that sublease pursuant to your contract.