518.54 Definitions.
Subdivision 1. Terms. For the purposes of sections 518.54 to 518.66, the terms defined in this section shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them.
Subd. 2. Child. "Child" means an individual under 18 years of age, an individual under age 20 who is still attending secondary school, or an individual who, by reason of physical or mental condition, is incapable of self-support.
Subd. 2a. Deposit account. "Deposit account" means funds deposited with a financial institution in the form of a savings account, checking account, NOW account, or demand deposit account.
Subd. 2b. Financial institution. "Financial institution" means a savings association, bank, trust company, credit union, industrial loan and thrift company, bank and trust company, or savings association, and includes a branch or detached facility of a financial institution.
Subd. 3. Maintenance. "Maintenance" means an award made in a dissolution or legal separation proceeding of payments from the future income or earnings of one spouse for the support and maintenance of the other.
Subd. 4. Support money; child support. "Support money" or "child support" means:
(1) an award in a dissolution, legal separation, annulment, or parentage proceeding for the care, support and education of any child of the marriage or of the parties to the proceeding; or
(2) a contribution by parents ordered under section 256.87.
Subd. 4a. Support order. "Support order" means a judgment, decree, or order, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued by a court or administrative agency of competent jurisdiction, for the support and maintenance of a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state, or a child and the parent with whom the child is living, that provides for monetary support, child care, medical support including expenses for confinement and pregnancy, arrearages, or reimbursement, and that may include related costs and fees, interest and penalties, income withholding, and other relief. This definition applies to orders issued under this chapter and chapters 256, 257, and 518C.
Subd. 5. Marital property; exceptions. "Marital property" means property, real or personal, including vested public or private pension plan benefits or rights, acquired by the parties, or either of them, to a dissolution, legal separation, or annulment proceeding at any time during the existence of the marriage relation between them, or at any time during which the parties were living together as husband and wife under a purported marriage relationship which is annulled in an annulment proceeding, but prior to the date of valuation under section 518.58, subdivision 1. All property acquired by either spouse subsequent to the marriage and before the valuation date is presumed to be marital property regardless of whether title is held individually or by the spouses in a form of coownership such as joint tenancy, tenancy in common, tenancy by the entirety, or community property. Each spouse shall be deemed to have a common ownership in marital property that vests not later than the time of the entry of the decree in a proceeding for dissolution or annulment. The extent of the vested interest shall be determined and made final by the court pursuant to section 518.58. If a title interest in real property is held individually by only one spouse, the interest in the real property of the nontitled spouse is not subject to claims of creditors or judgment or tax liens until the time of entry of the decree awarding an interest to the nontitled spouse. The presumption of marital property is overcome by a showing that the property is nonmarital property.
"Nonmarital property" means property real or personal, acquired by either spouse before, during, or after the existence of their marriage, which
(a) is acquired as a gift, bequest, devise or inheritance made by a third party to one but not to the other spouse;
(b) is acquired before the marriage;
(c) is acquired in exchange for or is the increase in value of property which is described in clauses (a), (b), (d), and (e);
(d) is acquired by a spouse after the valuation date; or
(e) is excluded by a valid antenuptial contract.
Subd. 6. Income. "Income" means any form of periodic payment to an individual including, but not limited to, wages, salaries, payments to an independent contractor, workers' compensation, reemployment compensation, annuity, military and naval retirement, pension and disability payments. Benefits received under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act and chapter 256J are not income under this section.
Subd. 7. Obligee. "Obligee" means a person to whom payments for maintenance or support are owed.
Subd. 8. Obligor. "Obligor" means a person obligated to pay maintenance or support. A person who is designated as the sole physical custodian of a child is presumed not to be an obligor for purposes of calculating current support under section 518.551 unless the court makes specific written findings to overcome this presumption.
Subd. 9. Public authority. "Public authority" means the public authority responsible for child support enforcement.
Subd. 10. Pension plan benefits or rights. "Pension plan benefits or rights" means a benefit or right from a public or private pension plan accrued to the end of the month in which marital assets are valued, as determined under the terms of the laws or other plan document provisions governing the plan, including section 356.30.
Subd. 11. Public pension plan. "Public pension plan" means a pension plan or fund specified in section 356.20, subdivision 2, or 356.30, subdivision 3, the deferred compensation plan specified in section 352.96, or any retirement or pension plan or fund, including a supplemental retirement plan or fund, established, maintained, or supported by a governmental subdivision or public body whose revenues are derived from taxation, fees, assessments, or from other public sources.
Subd. 12. Private pension plan. "Private pension plan" means a plan, fund, or program maintained by an employer or employee organization that provides retirement income to employees or results in a deferral of income by employees for a period extending to the termination of covered employment or beyond.
Subd. 13. Arrears. Arrears are amounts that accrue pursuant to an obligor's failure to comply with a support order. Past support and pregnancy and confinement expenses contained in a support order are arrears if the court order does not contain repayment terms. Arrears also arise by the obligor's failure to comply with the terms of a court order for repayment of past support or pregnancy and confinement expenses. An obligor's failure to comply with the terms for repayment of amounts owed for past support or pregnancy and confinement turns the entire amount owed into arrears.
Subd. 14. IV-D case. "IV-D case" means a case where a party has assigned to the state rights to child support because of the receipt of public assistance as defined in section 256.741 or has applied for child support services under title IV-D of the Social Security Act, United States Code, title 42, section 654(4).
HIST: 1951 c 551 s 1; 1969 c 1028 s 2,3; 1973 c 725 s 74; 1974 c 107 s 18; 1978 c 772 s 48; 1979 c 259 s 23,34; 1981 c 360 art 2 s 45; 1982 c 464 s 1; 1983 c 144 s 1; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 157 s 14-16; 1988 c 590 s 1; 1988 c 668 s 15,16; 1989 c 282 art 2 s 189; 1990 c 568 art 2 s 68,69; 1992 c 463 s 29; 1993 c 340 s 31; 1994 c 488 s 8; 1995 c 202 art 1 s 25; 1997 c 203 art 6 s 40,41; 1997 c 245 art 3 s 9; 1998 c 382 art 1 s 3-5; 1999 c 107 s 66; 1999 c 196 art 1 s 5
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes