Class, below are examples of the Argument section. Please reach out if you have any questions. Remember, you are only focusing on custody/parental responsibility/timesharing (as one issue) and child support this week.

Introduce the issue being considered. Introduce the question or topic you will be analyzing. Use the question you already developed, such as, "Whether best interest factors under Florida's parenting and time-sharing statute XYZ (the law) should determine whether a parent who has a drinking problem (key fact) should be entitled to majority timesharing with the minor children (legal question)?"

Next, provide the legal authority (your statute) that you rely upon to respond to the issue. Set forth the applicable provisions, except don't recite it word for word if it is very lengthy. Instead, just cite the statute and say something like, "Minnesota's time-sharing statute, xyz, sets forth the relevant factors when taking into consideration which parent should be awarded majority timesharing with the children."

The most critical part of the argument discussion is the analysis or application of the law to your case. Explain why the law (a case you've found) applies to your particular case. Do more than merely summarize a case.Analyzing requires you to compare and contrast the facts of your case to those in the case you rely upon and show the reader why your client's situation falls within the activity described by the case. Apply the reasoning of the case to your case.

Finally, after a thorough analysis, present the reader with a conclusion based upon your analysis of the statute and case. If the rule has been set forth clearly and the analysis is complete, the reader will likely be able to draw a conclusion even in advance of your stating it. Nevertheless, presenting a conclusion wraps up your analysis and serves as reinforcement of prior discussion as well as a signal that discussion of a particular topic is complete and that a new topic will likely be presented next. Readers need closure on one issue before tackling the next. Your conclusion can be as simple as one sentence telling the court what it should do. For example, "Therefore, based on the aforementioned analysis, the court should award the Father majority timesharing with the children."

You should have at least one case for every issue. This week you will only need one case for the custody/parental responsibility/timesharing section and one for child support.

First Example

Maintenance to Stay-at-Home Wife

The issue, in this case, is whether Minnesota's Maintenance statute allows the wife, who has been a stay-at-home mom, has employment experience, and can be a potential employment seeker, is allowed to receive permanent spousal maintenance.

As stated by Minn. Stat. Ann. {}, subd. {} "the maintenance order shall be in amounts and for periods of time, either temporary or permanent, as the court deems just, without regard to marital misconduct, and after considering all relevant factors including the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment, and the probability, given the party's age and skills, of completing education or training and becoming fully or partially self-supporting." This statute gives the relevant factors taken into consideration regarding awarding alimony.

In the case of Parties' Names, Reporter Name, etc. (Court/Year), the appellant motioned for a modification in maintenance to eliminate the $300 reduction from the previous court order of $1,800. The awarded alimony was supposed to reduce ten years later because the trial court determined that the wife had a duty to rehabilitate and retrain herself despite an award of permanent maintenance in the dissolution, as required in Minn. Stat. Ann. () subd. (). The appellant did not acquire sufficient education or training to enable her to find employment. The opposing counsel might use the case of Parties' Names, Reporter Name, etc. (Court/Year) to prove their case. In that case, the court awarded permanent spousal support to the wife. That case is different from this case because the wife was a housewife for more than 20 years of the marriage and has a few job skills as compared to working as a manager at a bakery during the marriage and later being a housewife for 11-12 years.

In the present case, the wife has work experience from being a bakery manager, is an able-bodied person who can work, and does not need to be at home all day. The wife can work while the children are in school.

Based upon the foregoing, the court should deny any request by the Wife for a permanent alimony award.

Second Example

Custody to Stay-At-Home Mother

The issue, in this case, is whether the best interest factors should determine if a parent that has a time-consuming job and gambling addiction should be entitled to majority timesharing with the minor children.

The cases interpreting the custody and timesharing statutes are in agreement that while there is inconclusive evidence of the wife's alleged alcohol abuse, there is significant evidence that the husband would have trouble changing his work schedule; therefore, the wife having primary placement and majority timesharing with the children would be in their best interest. In Parties' Names, Reporter Name, etc. (Court/Year), the Courts reviewed the husband's past behavior to determine whether he was willing to care for his children for longer periods of time and they concluded: "that the court properly exercised its discretion in awarding primary placement to the Wife and limited secondary placement to the Husband." In the Party's Name case, the judge also stated that if the husband was able to change his schedule now to tend to the children, but didn't do so in the past, then the husband must not have had any real concerns about his wife's alleged drinking problem. In the present case, the husband has been unable to attend many of the school functions for the children during the weekdays, and during the week he has often chosen his own needs over those of the children. The husband has complained that his wife has a drinking problem, which has led to the children having been tardy to school; however, instead of skipping the gym or rearranging his work schedule to take the children to school himself, he has kept his schedule the same. The situation in the Party's Name case and situation in the current case are almost identical in that the husbands accuse the wives of having drinking problems, but the only situation that can be proven is the husbands' inability to rearrange their work schedules.

Wis. Stat. {} states that "the Court shall set a placement schedule that allows the child to have regularly occurring, meaningful periods of physical placement with each parent and that maximizes the amount of time the child may spend with each parent, taking into account geographic separation and accommodations for different households." Tim has demonstrated through his actions and statements, that while he does love his children and does deserve to have meaningful time with the children, his schedule and personal proclivities have only allowed him to parent the children on the weekends. Since Sarah has had the most quality time with the children throughout their entire lives and has a more significant personal relationship with them, changing their daily routine could prove to be too much for the children mentally and emotionally.

The current educational obstacles Stuart is facing need to be taken into consideration when determining whether the Husband or Wife should be allocated majority timesharing. To avoid changing the children's regular schedule and keeping a level of stability in the home, Sarah should continue to be the children's primary custodian. The amount of time Tim will spend at work, compared to the amount of time he will be able to allocate to the children does not serve the children's best interests. In the past, he has had the least amount of quality time with the children, and if the Court were to allocate majority timesharing to Tim, the children's daily routine would change, leaving them spending more time with a babysitter than with a parent.

Therefore, based upon the foregoing, the Court should award the Wife majority timesharing with the children.

The argument section of the Trial Brief is the most important section. This is where you analyze the law that supports your client's position and describes why and how the law supports the position of your client.

During Part 1 of the argument section, you will focus on primary custody of the children, parental responsibility, timesharing with the children, and child support.

When presenting the cases and statutes to make your argument, make sure the favorable cases and statutes stand out and discuss how they apply to your client's case. You should also include the unfavorable cases and statutes showing why they are different and how they should not apply to your client's case.

Do not just summarize your cases and statutes. Using the IRAC approach, analyze and apply them to your client's case so the judge will see how the cases should be used to rule in your client's favor.

Additionally, remember to use the feedback you received on your previous submission, spend time making improvements to your overall course project.

Format

1. You will divide your argument into sections.
2. Each section must have its own header.
3. You can use Roman numerals or other identifying numbering.
4. You may center the header on the page or left justify it.
5. The Trial Brief is a persuasive document; attempt to make even your headers persuasive.
6. If you need to, you can also use subheadings; these usually use capital letters of the alphabet for identification.
7. Your citations should also appear in the body of the Trial Brief. UseThe Bluebookmethod of citation.
8. Never use first person when writing.
9. Focus on the parties, referring to them by name or using their titles, such as husband or wife.