Practice Overview
Amy L. Helsene advises clients on a full range of family law matters and related issues. She represents those who are facing issues concerning separation and divorce, custody and parenting time, child support, spousal maintenance, complex financial issues, post-dissolution matters, appeals and adoptions. She is a qualified neutral under Rule 114 of the General Rules of Practice.
Representative Experience
- Custody. Secured joint legal and physical custody for an unmarried parent following trial over the other parent’s objection and request for sole legal and physical custody of their child.
- Children’s name change. Assisted a parent in changing minor children’s surnames to include the parent’s current married name over the objection of the other parent after an evidentiary hearing.
- Custody. Obtained sole legal and physical custody of two children for a parent at trial after a lengthy conflict following an award of joint custody in the parties’ original divorce decree.
- Spousal maintenance. Negotiated a favorable spousal maintenance award for her client in mediation that took into account the parties’ affluent standard of living during the marriage and allowed her client to continue that marital standard of living after divorce.
- Supervised parenting time. Helped her client prevent the other parent from securing unsupervised parenting time with the parties’ minor children following a lengthy absence from the children’s lives and a previous instance of abuse.
View All Related Experience
Bar Admissions
- Minnesota, 1998
Education
- University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN, 1998 J.D.
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1995 B.A., cum laude
- Phi Beta Kappa
Honors
- Rising Star®, Super Lawyers magazine, 2003-2011
- Named a "North Star Lawyer" by the Minnesota State Bar Association, as recognition for pro bono services.
Professional Associations & Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Hennepin County Bar Association
- Minnesota Bar Association
- Minnesota Women Lawyers
- Volunteer Lawyers Network
Published Works
- MN CLE, Minnesota Child Custody Desktop Chapter, "Custody Best Interest Factors," 2011, and Supplements in 2012-2015
- Property Issues for Unmarried Couples, Family Law Forum, March 2011
- Regular Contributor, Juvenile Law Notes and Trends of Hennepin County, Bench & Bar, 2000-2002
- Co-author, "Trends in Spousal Maintenance," paper presented at December 2001 MILE seminar
- Family Law Forum, "Special Masters, Consensual Special Magistrates, or Arbitrators: Alternative Dispute Resolution Options that Remove Fact Finding and/or Decision-Making Authority from Judicial Officers"