2025 Session Last amended: 1979 session

§ 518.12 — Time for Answering

Plain-Language Summary

After being served with divorce papers, the other spouse has 30 days to file an answer. If a counterpetition is filed, the original petitioner does not need to file an answer because they are automatically treated as denying everything in it.

518.12 TIME FOR ANSWERING.

The respondent shall have 30 days in which to answer the petition. In case of service by publication, the 30 days shall not begin to run until the expiration of the period allowed for publication. In the case of a counterpetition for dissolution or legal separation to a petition for dissolution or legal separation, no answer shall be required to the counterpetition and the original petitioner shall be deemed to have denied each and every statement, allegation and claim in the counterpetition.

History:

(8591) RL s 3580; 1945 c 7 s 1; 1974 c 107 s 9; 1979 c 259 s 9

History: History: (8591) RL s 3580; 1945 c 7 s 1; 1974 c 107 s 9; 1979 c 259 s 9

Practical Notes

When this applies: After a spouse is served with a divorce or legal separation petition. Who this affects: The responding spouse in a Minnesota divorce or legal separation. Key points: The respondent has 30 days to answer the petition. If service was by newspaper publication, the 30 days start after the publication period ends. If the respondent files a counterpetition for divorce or legal separation, the original petitioner does not need to file an answer and is assumed to deny all claims in it.

Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes