HOW TO RESEARCH FOLKS ONLINE FOR ROMANTIC AND BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS
First, I want to make sure that everyone has access to these basic tools and info. for researching folks online for social and business purposes because who you spend time with and align yourself with socially and businesswise is the largest predictor of your physical and emotional safety and financial success!
1) Research the person on the Minnesota District (state) Courts website, https://www.mncourts.gov/Access-Case-Records.aspx – click on district case records; click on MPA Remote; accept the terms; and then, ….
a) criminal background check – choose criminal; complete the security puzzle; choose defendant; enter the prospective date / employee’s name and, if possible date of birth; if you know the person’s date of birth or age, then you’ll be able to more effectively sort through the results; and/or
b) civil background check – choose civil; complete the security puzzle; choose party; enter the prospective date / employee’s name and, if possible date of birth; you could find out that the person was recently evicted from an apartment or his/her house was foreclosed upon, so he/she is more likely to need a place to live. 
c) Google ALL words that you don’t understand.
d) In order to research people who have spent part of their life in another state, some, but not all, states have easy to use district (state) court databases that function in mostly the same way as Minnesota District Court’s database does. In Wisconsin, go to https://wcca.wicourts.gov/. For the other states, google the state’s name and “district court” or “state court”. If a state’s court system doesn’t have an easy to use online database, then, during the state court system’s business hours, call any of the district courts and ask how to research a person’s criminal and financial background records that are in the state court docket (database).
2) Research the person on all of the social media websites; you could find out that a man / woman has an unhealthy attitude towards women / men because he / she has derogatory posts about women / men on Facebook; you could find out anything about a person that he/she or another person posted on 1 of the websites.
3) Google the person’s name to find out what you could learn; you could find out that he/she owns a business 
or volunteers for Second Harvest Heartland. 
4) Keep notes of everything that you learn. Organize your notes into topics, such as social activities, to make it faster for you to locate specific info. later.
5) Ask yourself if this is the type of person who you want to be in a romantic or business relationship with. Past behaviors don’t necessarily predict future behaviors, but they sometimes do. Ask yourself if it’s worth the physical, emotional, and/or financial risk.
I hope that you use this knowledge and skill to protect yourself from physical, emotional, and/or financial harm!!!
Second, here's a list of websites and articles that are good to great resources:
Lastly, here are the things that will help folks co-parent more effectively:
1) Talkingparents.com is a free website for parents to communicate. It shows when messages are viewed. Messages cannot be deleted. You receive an email when there's a message. It can be court ordered. It’s admissible in court as evidence.
2) Cofamilies.com is a free online calendar to keep track of appointments, school events, project and homework due dates, and pick-up and drop-off location and times. It even has a private setting, so that you can add personal things, such as things your child has said in your home. There's a $1 per month suggested donation.
3) Bothparents.com is a free website where parents can communicate and send pictures. There's also a calendar to help keep track of any events, pick-up, drop-off, etc.
4) Our Family Wizard: For $99 per year per parent, you can use our family wizard, which is like cofamilies.com and talkingparents.com combined. What each parent communicates on there is admissible in court as evidence. Parents can be court ordered to use it. There's also a cellphone app.
5) Backup + app. on cellphone to backup your texts (for Android devices): You enter your gmail information, and then it backs up your text messages and call logs to your email. It works especially well to ensure that no information is deleted.
6) Calendar: Buy a calendar to write down when your child spends time with you and what you are going to do. If you have supervised visitation, then mark the times that you were there and write what you did. In addition, keep records of any and all missed communications on another calendar. To make it easier, you could use one large calendar and different colored pens for the different things.
7) Recordings: MN requires that only one party has knowledge that the conversation is being recorded. This applies to in-person, phone, and online conversations. You can record phone conversations on speaker (you can use an old phone, connect it to wifi, and email it to yourself.) You can also record in-person conversations, which is a good idea during drop-off and pick-up. Call the courts before and ask them what they prefer as far as recordings for court go.
8) County Child Protective Services Office Records: As a parent, you can contact your county CPS office and request their records regarding your child. You usually need the child's birth certificate and your id. card. If you're not listed on the birth certificate as a parent, then you need to go through the paternity case court process to make that happen, first.
9) Medical Records and Dental Records: You can request these records. Mention to your lawyer and the court any doctor appointments that you didn't know about. As a parent, the other parent is supposed to notify you of all medical, dental, and mental health care appointments.
10) Character Reference Letters: If you have an impending court battle, the obtain a few character reference letters from your friends and co-workers. Make sure that the character reference letter states how long the person has know you. The letter should state things about how you behave towards your child, your lifestyle, character, and how you behave at work or wherever they know you from.
11) Cell phone provider website: Some cellphone companies allow you to print your phone records and text messages directly from your online account. Otherwise, it’s pretty difficult to get texts and records from your cellphone provider. However, an I.T. could help you with this.
12) Court Transcripts: You can obtain court transcripts from past court hearings by requesting them from the family court office. The fee will either be a flat fee of about $15 or so much per page.
13) Court Records: Most criminal and family court cases' basic info. can be found online at www.mncourts.gov. If you don’t find the info. that you want online, then contact the court in which you need information from.
14) Expenses: Have an electronic or paper folder with copies of all of your child support payments and receipts for things that you buy for your child.
15) Social Media: Social media posts are admissible in court as evidence. You can do a basic Google search or use pipl.com to search for someone and find accounts that they have online. Search their full name, address, and known usernames. Search their friends' social media account profiles for information that they posted, as well. Take screenshots of the post and the poster's full social media profile. Make sure all screenshots include the date and time that the item was posted and the social media account username.
16) Pictures and Photobooks: Take the time to make a free photobook on www.shutterfly.com, as it’s a good way to have a lot of photos in one place from different times that's able to be brought to court. Take photos of you spending time with your child. In addition, take photos of your child’s room and the common areas of your house to show the judge how your child lives in your home. Take pictures with timestamps. If you're denied parenting time, then take a picture of the other parent's vehicle at home or the other parent standing on the porch or something like that.
17) Law enforcement officers: Law enforcement officers don't enforce child custody orders. However, if you're being denied parenting time, then call the local law enforcement department and ask that an Police Report be filed. Ask for the officer's name and badge number. A few days later, ask for a copy of the Police Report. If the officer won't write the Police Report, then write a note about the situation and include the officer's identifying info.
18) Child comments: Take notes of all comments that your child makes that don't seem good for the well-being of your child or your role as his/her parent. However, don’t interrogate your child or your child won't want to spend time with you and your child deserves to feel at peace when he/she is with you. The comments might not be very important, but you won’t know until you communicate with your attorney.
- originally written by Jinelle Reynolds of The Fathers' Rights Movement, and then expounded upon by Christie Lea Thompson, divorce and child custody paralegal and mediator as ChristieLegal
ChristieLegal. Fight less. Live better faster.
