Barna, Guzy & Steffen Announces Addition of New Shareholders
August 1, 2013 | Barna, Guzy & Steffen, Ltd.The Shareholders of Barna, Guzy & Steffen, Ltd. announce that Timothy D. Erb, Tammy J. Schemmel and Adriel B. Villarreal have been named Shareholders. Tim is a 2001 cum laude graduate of Hamline University School of Law. He began his career at BGS in 2004 as an associate in the Real Estate department. Tim concentrates his practice in both commercial and residential real estate including acquisitions, sales, leasing, development and title law. His practice also includes providing counsel to developers and associations regarding formation and operation of common interest communities (condominiums, townhomes/planned communities, mixed-use and master associations). In addition to being named Shareholder, Tim was recently recognized as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers in the area of Real Estate. Tammy graduated magna cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in 2004. Prior to joining BGS, she served as a law clerk for United States Magistrate Judge Janie S. Mayeron of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Tammy practices in all areas of Commercial Litigation, including shareholder disputes, securities fraud, estate litigation, employment defense, real estate, contract litigation and appellate matters. Tammy is active in the Federal Bar Association and currently serves as Communications Committee Co-Chair. Adriel graduated from University of St. Thomas Law School in 2006. He…
Read MoreMy Divorce is Simple, Can I Do It Myself?
August 1, 2013 | Elizabeth A. SchadingUnfortunately, rarely is there such thing as a “simple” divorce. Problems can arise both during the initial divorce process and after the divorce as circumstances begin to change. For example, let’s say you and your spouse have already agreed on a visitation schedule. That’s great! However, you could leave out things that could become severe points of contention later. For example, you might forget to specify who gets the child for the holidays. Because you used DIY divorce forms there may be nothing in the divorce decree which addresses this issue one way or another. Suddenly you and your ex are caught up in bitter fights about Christmas and Thanksgiving, with no resolution in sight and one spouse perhaps holding an unfair advantage over the other. Now, if you’d like to fix the issue and nail down the matter of holidays you’ll need to go right back to a divorce lawyer, attend mediation or file the matter with the courts, and get it resolved the right way. Fixing your mistakes will end up costing you far more money than simply getting the job done right the first time. We’re not just telling you this because we’re attorneys. We’ve seen these kinds of problems again and again. It’s always easier, quicker, and less expensive…
Read MoreHow Can I Adopt My Step-Child in Minnesota?
July 29, 2013 | Elizabeth A. SchadingA step-parent’s desire to adopt their wife or husband’s child does come up a lot in family law. However, step-parent adoption is not straightforward. In many ways, proposing a step-parent adoption is like proposing a bid for sole legal and physical custody of the child. That is because in Minnesota the non-custodial parent will be surrendering his or her parental rights completely if he or she allows the adoption to proceed. Sometimes this won’t be hard. When a step-parent adopts the non-custodial parent terminates all parental rights and responsibilities. This means the non-custodial parent will no longer be responsible for paying child support (though he or she will still be responsible for paying any accumulated arrears). [maxbutton id=”1″ ] In this case the non-custodial parent can simply consent to the adoption and it can proceed uncontested with the appropriate paperwork, especially if the child is under the age of 14. If the child is over the age of 14 then you will also need the child’s consent for the adoption. Of course, you probably would have already had extensive discussions with your child before pursuing this course of action and so ideally would already know where your teenager stands on the issue. If you can’t get the other parent to give you written consent…
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