Each district court appoints experienced family law lawyers to sit in child support court as Child Support Magistrates essentially junior judges with limited responsibility. To a litigant or an attorney appearing before a child support magistrate, it is essential that they be treated with all the same respect and decorum as a judge of district court. Civil law is basically law which is not criminal. With few exceptions, Minnesota family law cases are exclusively civil in character. Generally, one party sues one or more other parties under a civil cause of action a form of lawsuit already authorized by law.
Contempt of court is neither type.
Whatever a court postpones to a later time is continued to a date certain. A judge may continue a hearing because an earlier scheduled hearing ran late. A party may request a continuance because they failed to prepare and the judge may deny the continuance. An fellow attorney actually working on the same side of a case as another attorney. They are co-counsel.