Applicability of Rules

(a) Applicable Rule or Statute. Rules 301 through 314 and, where applicable, the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure shall apply to Family Law actions except where they are in conflict with applicable statutes or the Expedited Child Support Process Rules, Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 351 through 379. (b) Included Proceedings. The following types of proceedings are referred to in these rules as Family Court Actions: (1) Marriage dissolution, legal separation, annulment proceedings, and child custody actions (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518); (2) Child custody enforcement proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518D); (3) Domestic abuse proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518B); (4) Proceedings to determine or enforce child support obligations (Minnesota Statutes, chapters 518A, 518C - U.I.F.S.A., sections 256.87; 289A.50, subdivision 5; and 393.07, subdivision 9); (5) Contempt proceedings in Family Court (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 588); (6) Parentage determination proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, sections 257.51 to 257.74); Published by the Revisor of Statutes under Minnesota Statutes, section 3C.08, subdivision 1. GENERAL RULES OF PRACTICE 182 MINNESOTA COURT RULES (7) Proceedings for support, maintenance or county reimbursement judgments (Minnesota Statutes, section 548.091); (8) Third-party custody proceedings (Minnesota Statutes, chapter 257C); and (9) Proceedings pursuant to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act. Other matters may be treated as family court matters by order of the court. (c) Excluded proceedings. Rules 301 through 314 do not apply to proceedings commenced in the Expedited Child Support Process, except for Rules 302.02, 303.05, 308.02, 309, 313, and 314. (d) Applicability of Rules of Civil Procedure. The Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure apply to Family Court Actions as to matters not addressed by these rules. To the extent there is any conflict in the rules, these rules govern. (Amended effective May 1, 2012; amended effective September 1, 2018.) Advisory Committee Comment - 2012 Amendment 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. Gen. R. 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 through 314 are inconsistent with the Expedited Child Support Rules and therefore do not apply to the expedited process.