Congratulations, Grandparents: Your Visitation Rights Are Secure!
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 […]
Could Your Child Be Up For Adoption Without Your Consent?
There are cases under Michigan State law that, \”right\” or not, allow a mother to put her child up for adoption without the father\’s consent. Obviously, if no father is known, the mother has sole discretion about the status of her child\’s availability for adoption — but the court does require that a \”reasonable effort\” […]
Establishing Paternity under Michigan Law
There are exactly two situations in which paternity is easy to establish under Michigan law: When the mother is married to a man at the time the child was conceived or born, and no other man disagrees with the assumption, the man is assumed to be the child\’s father. When the mother and a man […]
How to Adopt Your Step-Child in Michigan State
Adopting your step-child isn\’t always easy in the state of Michigan, but it\’s almost always at least possible. The most important question is, \”Will the noncustodial parent voluntarily terminate their parental rights?\” If the answer to that question is yes, you\’ve practically succeeded already. If the answer is no, you might have a long fight […]
When They Don’t Pay Child Support
When a child\’s parents divorce, they are left with an obligation — not just moral, but legal as well — to care for that child. The law recognizes that obligation and enforces it in a few ways, including parenting schedules and of course the financial obligation of child support. And while most often, a parent […]
Standard vs. Custom Child Custody Visitation Schedules
When a child\’s parents divorce, barring exceptional circumstances, the courts give them the opportunity to create a visitation schedule that works with their particular lives and circumstances. But some parents are simply unable to get through that process — for those parents, the court will most often order a generic, standardized custody visitation schedule. This […]
Shared Parenting: Better for Everyone
Many divorced parents assume that sharing their children with their ex is going to be worse for everyone involved, for any number of reasons…and they\’re very wrong. Shared parenting, when approached with good intention by both sides, is the best path forward for both parents and children. Two is Better Than One When it comes […]
How to Build a Co-Parenting Plan
Co-parenting — sharing your child with an ex — is a difficult endeavor. It requires more trust than you are likely to have in your ex. But it\’s a vital part of any divorce that involves children, because no matter what you might think of your ex, to your children they will always be \”my […]
Watching Your Kids Leave With Your Ex
It\’s hard, after a divorce, to get used to being a single parent with custody. Without your ex to depend on for simple things like watching the kid while you run to the store (or vice versa), it can seem like everyday tasks take twice as long and the number of tasks there are to […]
Active Fatherhood Deemed More Important Than Biological Contribution In Michigan
In a precedent-setting decision, a man from Macomb Township was ruled the father of a boy that he had raised since birth, even after it was discovered that the child was not biologically his offspring. A Macomb County judge ruled that the 40-year-old man would continue to have joint custody of the 5-year-old boy whom […]
International Custody Disputes Are Time-Sensitive
The Supreme Court ruled recently on the case of an international custody dispute, and ruled that the law in this case doesn\’t have the flexibility to take exigent circumstances into account. According to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a treaty signed by many first-world countries, says that if a […]