Letty M-S Van Ert focuses her practice on helping North Metro families through many of life’s challenges, including leading families with children through custody and divorce proceedings, guiding families through the probate process when they experience the death of a loved one or setting up estate plans for families with small or disabled children.
Ms. Van Ert has a breadth of experience researching, drafting, conducting discovery, negotiating, counseling clients, and litigating matters. In addition, she is a Rule 114 qualified neutral and enjoys helping parties come up with creative solutions to disagreements or disputes.
Living with her husband and two small children of her own in the North Metro, Ms. Van Ert knows first hand the joys and struggles families can face. She appreciates that when children are involved, special care and consideration are needed to protect the children’s interests. Ms. Van Ert finds third-party custody cases particularly satisfying. In those cases, a child often has neither a mother nor a father providing care, and someone else, sometimes not even biologically related to the child, steps up to fill the role as parent, giving the child the love and support he or she otherwise would not receive.
Not only has Ms. Van Ert experienced life with small children, but she has also faced the loss of both of her parents after long illnesses. The experience of losing her parents along with her work with clients have given her a depth of understanding and empathy, which she provides to her clients who are experiencing loss, whether the loss be in the form of a loved one’s death or the loss of a spouse through divorce.
Ms. Van Ert received her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law, where she graduated cum laude and served as an editor of the Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish/Portuguese, English, and International Relations from the University of Minnesota, graduating magna cum laude.She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and has received recognition for public service, most notably for her work with prisoners, the elderly and victims of domestic abuse.
She is a present member and acting Secretary of the Coon Rapids Rotary Club and has volunteered with Wills for Heroes, Tubman, and the Pro Se Clinics in both Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. Ms. Van Ert has published articles regarding family caregiver legislation, deathbed deeds and estate planning for digital assets. In 2011 and 2017 Ms. Van Ert was recognized as a “Rising Star” attorney by Minnesota Super Lawyers®
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