Family Court

Family Court Overview

Family Court oversees court cases involving family matters such as dissolutions of marriage, parenting time schedules and disputes, child custody issues, child support establishment and modification, and paternity cases.

Family Court judges, referees, and magistrates hold court hearings on these issues, and the Family Court Clerk’s Office maintains the court files and provides access to records and documents.

Family Court Judicial Contact Information

The Self-Help Center provides assistance to individuals representing themselves in Family Court matters. For more information, please visit the Self-Help Service Center page or call the Self-Help Center at (651) 266-5125.

In July 2009, the Second Judicial District implemented Early Case Management, specific resources can be found on the ENE/ECM Help Topic.

Location of Family Court

Family Court Customer Service is located at either the Juvenile and Family Justice Center, 25 7th Street West, St. Paul, MN 55102 or 15 West Kellogg Boulevard, Room 190, Saint Paul, MN 55102. Family Court Customer Service is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Family Court hearings before referees are located at the Juvenile and Family Justice Center, 25 West 7th Street, Street Paul, MN.

Family Court hearings before judges are located at the Ramsey County Courthouse, 15 West Kellogg Boulevard, Saint Paul, MN 55102.

Driving Directions to the Courthouse
Driving Directions to the Juvenile and Family Justice Center

Family Court Organization

Customer Service Unit

The Family Customer Service Unit can answer general questions about your Family Court case. The Customer Service Unit provides forms and accepts documents for filing. If you have questions about your Family Court case, please call (651) 266-2842 or visit the Juvenile and Family Justice Center, 25 7th St. West, Saint Paul, MN 55102 or 15 West Kellogg Boulevard, Room 190, Saint Paul, MN 55102.

Filing and Order Processing Unit

Responsibilities of this unit include processing Family Court documents for filing and processing court orders. If you have questions about how to file documents or questions about filed documents, please call (651) 266-2842 for more information.

Court Support Unit

The Court Support Unit is responsible for holding child support hearings before child support magistrates and coordinating hearings before the Family Court judges and referees. If you would like more information about how to schedule a hearing, please see the Case Scheduling information below.

How do I schedule a motion hearing?

If you are an attorney, contact a scheduling clerk in Family Court for a hearing date.

If you are representing yourself, please contact the Self-Help Service Center for information about how to get that hearing date. You can call the Self-Help Service Center at (651) 266-5125; visit the Self-Help Service Center at 15 West Kellogg Boulevard, Room 190, Saint Paul, MN 55102; or visit the Self-Help Center website.

What should I do if I can't appear at a hearing that's been scheduled? / Can I request a new court date?

Yes, you can request a new hearing date, but that request must be made in writing, served on all other parties, and filed into your case.

If your hearing is before a child support magistrate, you could use the Request for Continuance form to ask for a new hearing date.

If you have a hearing before a referee or judge, you can write a letter to the judicial officer to ask for a new hearing date. Send a copy of your request to all other parties in the case. File a copy of your request by mailing or hand delivering it to Family Court, Juvenile and Family Justice Center, 25 7th Street West, Saint Paul, MN 55102 or 15 West Kellogg Boulevard, Room 190, Saint Paul, MN 55102.

The judicial officer will issue an order granting or denying your request or a scheduling clerk will contact you with the judicial officer’s decision.

Are files confidential?

Most Family Court cases are public. Actions for dissolution of marriage, child custody, new paternity, and child support are public cases. Paternity actions started prior to 2012 may be confidential. Some documents within a public case may be confidential.

How do I view a file?

Non-confidential case information is available online through the Access Case Records page. You may be able to see and print some public documents in the case using this online system. You can visit any courthouse in Ramsey or any other county to use a Public Access Terminal to view the documents in a case.

How do I obtain a copy of a court document?

You can print some documents from the online case records system. You can visit the Ramsey District Court Records Office to obtain copies of case documents. Information about the District Court Records Office is found below. Plain copies of court documents are free. Certified copies of court documents are available for a fee.

Ramsey County Juvenile and Family Court