Defendant's Attorney:

Description: Minnewaukan, North Dakota family law lawyers represented the parties in a divorce.

The parties married in 2013 and separated in 2023. They have three schoolage children born of the marriage. The marital home is in Pleasant Lake, North Dakota. The marital home was Kyle Shively's family farmstead. Sarah Shively currently resides in the marital home with the children. Kyle Shively moved to Rugby, North Dakota, during the separation.

Sarah Shively initiated divorce proceedings against Kyle Shively, seeking primary residential responsibility. Kyle Shively answered and filed a counterclaim, requesting primary residential responsibility, or, in the alternative, equal residential responsibility. At trial, Sarah Shively proposed a parenting plan awarding her primary residential responsibility, and Kyle Shively proposed a parenting plan awarding equal residential responsibility. After a two-day bench trial, the court entered its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order for judgment, awarding Sarah Shively primary residential responsibility and the marital home in Pleasant Lake.

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Legal issue Did the district court err in awarding primary residential responsibility, parenting time, and the distribution of property in the divorce proceedings?
Headnote

FAMILY LAW. DIVORCE AND CHILD CUSTODY. The case involves an appeal from a district court's judgment concerning the award of primary residential responsibility in divorce proceedings, where the appellant challenges the factual findings related to the children's best interests and the failure to consider equal residential responsibility.

FAMILY LAW. PARENTING TIME. The appeal addresses the district court's omission of a clear award for summer parenting time, requiring remand for the court to provide a reasoned explanation for its parenting time decision, especially given the established presumption of extended summer visitation being in the child's best interest.

FAMILY LAW. PROPERTY DIVISION. The appeal concerns the equitable distribution of marital property, emphasizing the district court's failure to adequately explain its decision to award the marital home, which has sentimental and familial significance, to one party without sufficiently addressing the opposing party's arguments or the Ruff-Fischer guidelines.

Key Phrases Primary residential responsibility. Best interest factors. Marital home award. Extended summer parenting time. Equitable distribution.

Outcome: Reversed and remanded.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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