Advisory Committee Comment-2018 Amendments

The amendment to Rule 308.02 in 2018 establishes an electronic corollary to stapling an attachment to a signed order. When orders are signed without the attachments being included as a referenced attachment to an order or decree, the historical practice has been to simply staple the attachments to the orders when distributed by the court When the order or decree is in electronic form, physically adding die attachments to the same document after a judge electronically signs will render the signature subject to challenge as the document will indicate that it has been changed. The electronic corollary to stapling the order to the already signed order or decree is to set it forth in a separate electronic document and add it to the case record, and send a notice to the parties that explains this.

Advisory Committee Comment-1992 Amendments

These rules are derived primarily from the Rules of Family Court Procedure. The advisory committee comments from the Rules of Family Court Procedure are included except where inconsistent with new provisions or where applicable rules are not retained.

These rules apply to the following specific types of proceedings that are generally treated as family court actions:

1. Marriage dissolution, legal separation, and annulment proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518);

2. Child custody enforcement proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518A);

3. Domestic abuse proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518B);

4. Support enforcement proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518C-R.U.R.E.S.A.);

5. Contempt actions in Family Court (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 588);

6. Parentage determination proceeding’s (Minnesota Statutes, sections 257.51 -. 74);

7. Actions for reimbursement of public assistance (Minnesota Statutes, section 256.87 );

8. Withholding of refunds from support debtors (Minnesota Statutes, section 289A.50, subdivision 5);

9. Proceedings to compel payment of child support (Minnesota Statutes, section 393.07, subdivision 9); and

10. Proceedings for support, maintenance or county reimbursement judgments (Minnesota Statutes, section 548.091 ).

Other matters may be heard and treated as family court matters. (Amended effective January 1, 1993.)

Advisory Committee Comment-2001 Amendment

Minn. R. Gen. Prac. 351.01 states that the Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Evidence, and General Rules of Practice shall apply to proceedings in the expedited process unless inconsistent with the Expedited Child Support Rules, Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 351 through 379. With the exception of Family Court Rules 302.04, 303.05, 303.06, 308.02, and 313, Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 301-313 are inconsistent with the Expedited Child Support Rules and therefore do not apply to the expedited process.

Advisory Committee Comment–2012 Amendments

Rules 301 through 314 were originally derived primarily from the Rules of Family Court Procedure as they existed in 1992. These rules have been revised in several important ways in the ensuing years, and were revised and completely restated in 2011. The prior Advisory Committee Comments have been incorporated into a single set of Advisory Committee Comments for the benefit of the Minnesota Supreme Court as well as for courts and litigants. As is consistently made clear by the orders that have amended the rules, the Advisory Committee Comments are not adopted by the Supreme Court and do not have any official status. They reflect the views of the Supreme Court’s advisory committees that have recommended amendments of the rules from time to time.

Rules 301 through 314 apply in the enumerated proceedings, comprising the majority of types of cases involving family relations. Adoption proceedings are governed by separate Rules of Adoption Procedure, adopted effective January 1, 2005.

Minn. R. Gen. Prac. 351.01 states that the Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Evidence, and General Rules of Practice shall apply to proceedings in the expedited process unless inconsistent with the Expedited Child Support Rules, Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 351 through 379. With the exception of Family Court Rules 302.02, 303.05, 308.02, 309, 313 and 314, Rules 301-314 are inconsistent with the Expedited Child Support Rules and therefore do not apply to the expedited process.