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In the state of Michigan, spousal support payments (a.k.a. alimony payments) are set up when the court deems it appropriate that, upon a divorce, one spouse should make payments to the other spouse in order to allow them the opportunity to reestablish themselves financially. The statue limits spousal support payments to an amount that is “just and reasonable,” but what ...

A Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s decision to deny a father the right to deny his child’s adoption on the 5th of this month. The father had filed a motion to stay his child’s adoption by a couple — an adoption the mother filed for upon the child’s birth. The motion was denied by a trial court because: ...

We recently had lunch with a few of our associates, and as usual we talked shop while we hit up the coffee and sandwiches. One of the interesting questions that came up: “A client of mine recently came to me with a written letter from his son’s teacher saying that his son had started failing multiple classes and was caught ...

Americans have a weird view of older people — we seem to think that once you’ve surpassed middle age, you’ve “settled in” and whatever circumstances you live in are the ones you’re going to be content with for the rest of your life. Anyone who has elected for a divorce past the age of 50 knows better: getting older doesn’t ...

Adopting a child is a blessing for all involved — the child who is being welcomed into a family that will last their lifetimes, the family who is gaining a valued new member, and society as a whole. We all benefit from children who are wanted, loved, and raised knowing their future is more-or-less secure. But what about children with ...

Modern custody agreements, like modern parents, are adapting to the smartphone culture faster than the law can keep up. For example, many modern custody agreements now offer a section referring to ‘virtual visitation’ in the same terms that normal physical visitation is. The courts in general support this idea, as it’s generally considered to strengthen the relationship between the noncustodial ...

Most people don’t realize that a Michigan divorce with children involved actually involves two separate elements of the Family Court system. The first is the obvious: the Circuit Court judge that oversees the overt elements of your divorce (i.e. the division of assets and the custody arrangements). The second is more subtle, but arguably more important — at least in ...

Now that the fiction of a ‘civil union’ has been mostly done away with and homosexuals can use the same laws the rest of the country does, most people consider just three conditions for a couple: you can be unmarried, you can be married, or you can be divorced. But in most states, including Michigan, there’s a rarely-discussed fourth option: ...

There are a lot of misunderstandings that happen in conversations about custody. A large part of that it because people don’t really understand that ‘custody’ is not a complete legal concept in and of itself. Instead, it’s broken up into two parts: legal custody, and physical custody. Physical Custody is the term used to describe which parent houses the child. ...

Just in time for Christmas, a case that has been fought for almost two years has finally come out of an extended appeals process, and grandparents across Michigan should be happy to hear the result. In the case of Varran v. Granneman, a pair of grandparents that were very involved in their grandchild’s life were cut off from their grandchild ...