Move Fast If Your Baby’s Momma Is Putting Him Up
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 […]
How Far Must My Child Slide Before I File for Custody?
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 […]
Child Custody for the Information Age: Virtual Visitation
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 […]
Explaining the Friend of the Court
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 […]
Clearing Up Custody: Legal vs. Physical and Sole vs. Joint
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 […]
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 […]