2002 Minnesota Statutes

     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, unemployment benefits, 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; 2000 c 343 s 4