You may remember the film, Shawshank Redemption, a 1994 film starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, based on the Stephen King short story, Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption. A fantastic illustration of the idea (and hope) of redemption.
Whether you read the book or watch the movie, or both, I hope you find – as I did – that the story beautifully captures the intersection of despair, redemption, and most importantly … hope.
Briefly, the story intertwines the trajectories of two men, who help each find their own redemption in the context of serving respective prison sentences; both landing in Shawshank Prison for very different reasons. The characters are masterfully portrayed by Robbins (as Andy Dusfrene, a banker wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife) and Freeman (as Red Redding, a ‘lifer’ at Shawshank, convicted of murder as a much-younger man).
Like the theme of redemption illustrated by Andy and Red, redemption can also play out in Family Court. I’ve borne witness to redemption, representing parents in child custody matters over the past three decades.
A parent’s personal transgressions will often be the downfall of an otherwise productive co-parenting relations, whether it be addiction, poor judgment, or behavioral health-related. Family Court is the graveyard/trauma center/wasteland (choose your metaphor) of failed co-parenting relationships. It is not a happy place.
The law dictates that Family Court is where we resolve our child custody disputes. Consequently, allegations and evidence of parental misconduct, borne out in the form of child endangerment, are the requisite elements of a custody modification in Minnesota Family Court.
Under Minnesota law, a custody arrangement may be modified when a court finds:
- a change in circumstances;
- modification is necessary to serve the child’s best interests; (
- the child’s “present environment endangers the child’s physical or emotional health or impairs the child’s emotional development”; and
- the benefits of the modification outweigh detriment.
Minn. Stat. § 518.18(d)(iv) (2022); Crowley v. Meyer, 897 N.W.2d 288, 293 (Minn. 2017).
I underlined the ‘endangerment’ language purposely; that’s the ‘common thread’ woven through most custody modification requests brought before Minnesota Courts. Endangerment does not have be physical, it can be purely emotional, but, it must be severe. Geibe v. Geibe, 571 N.W.2d 774 (Minn. App. 1997). See Goldman v. Greenwood, 748 N.W.2d 279 (Minn. 2008). Sadly, there is no shortage of allegations brought in Family Court about how parents endanger their children. You’ll understand if I decline to cite examples.
Nevertheless, can a parent with a history of endangering their children, through commitment to improving their condition and addressing their afflictions that brought harm their children, achieve their own redemption and overcome challenges to their custody rights?
Well, if Andy Dufresne (Shawshank’s protagonist) can endure decades of wrongful conviction and crawl thought 200 years of sewer pipe to freedom, perhaps there is redemption for a parent committed to rectifying their past.
Minnesota appellate courts have devoted a remarkable body of analysis and discussion to what constitutes a child’s present environment, when considering the factors (cited above) in the context of a child custody dispute.
- Is it proper for a Court to defer to a parent’s commitment to ongoing treatment and self-improvement? Or,
- Is the Court tied to the parent’s past bad acts and history of harmful behavior?
Case law suggests that courts should consider the parent’s efforts and commitment to addressing past behavior and improving their condition, when considering the child’s ‘present environment’. Hassing v. Lancaster, 570 N.W.2d 701(Minn. App. 1997).
But, the debate is far from settled. A recent dissenting opinion in an appellate court decision interpreted the Hassing decision (cited above) as admonishing courts against speculation about future improvement, and warned against ignoring previous circumstances.
My advice to parents facing challenges to their custody rights, is to heed the lesson from Hassing, kind of like the lesson from Shawshank Redemption, in that through a lot of work, and willingness to reckon with their past, redemption can be achieved.
Meet Tim Simonson
Tim has been practicing for more than twenty (20) years now, He's handled divorce, child support, child custody, third party and grandparent rights, domestic abuse, parenting time, and many other areas of family law. He always enjoys the chance to meet people and see whether he can help find solutions to their legal problems.
Contact Beyer & Simonson
If you are facing divorce and any of the divorce-related issues such as spousal maintenance, child support, child custody, property division, or domestic abuse matters, you need our experienced Minneapolis divorce attorneys to help you. Contact Beyer & Simonson in Edina, Minnesota today at (952) 303-6007.
