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I have been practicing family law as a divorce lawyer for over thirty years in Oakland County, Michigan and I can say first hand that the most difficult part of any divorce that involves children is dividing up the time that each parent gets to spend with the kids after the divorce.  This blog is written to very generally address how difficult it is to obtain sole physical custody in a divorce in Michigan. If you have any family law questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to schedule a consultation with us by clicking on this link or calling (248) 608-4123.

How Hard Is It To Get Sole Physical Custody In Michigan?

In Michigan it is necessary to distinguish between physical and legal custody.  Legal custody refers to the constitutional right to parent one's child and encompasses the ability to be involved in medical care decisions, religious upbringing, education and the other types of decisions that go along with being a parent of a minor child.  Joint legal custody is granted in almost every case absent serious abuse, mental health or criminal issues.  Physical custody refers to with whom the child resides most of the time.  In Michigan the term has lost most of its relevance because the children's schedule for with whom they will be on a given day or night is really governed by the "parenting time" schedule.

With that being said, it is very hard for one parent to get full physical custody of a child in a divorce case.  The days are over where one parent was given primary physical custody and the other parent was allowed visitation with the children every other weekend from Friday to Sunday, one dinner a week and some additional time for holidays and vacations.  In the vast majority of cases, the parents of a child that get divorced will be granted relatively equal, if not exactly equal parenting time.  Of course there are always exceptions, and if there is a very good reason, such as drug/alcohol abuse, criminal or other very unsafe and verifiable problems with the other parent, then the court will do the right thing and restrict parenting time with that parent but you must submit compelling proof and evidence to the court for it to do so.

This may seem somewhat backwards to some parents that have valid concerns about the other parent's lack of ability to parent.  The valid concern for these parents seems to be that the court will allow the other parent the opportunity to have equal parenting time even though it is less than ideal based upon the various concerns the first parent harbors about the other parent's ability to parent the child properly.  It then follows, based upon these concerns, that this puts the child at risk because the court will not do anything about the concerns about the other parent's home or parenting ability until something bad happens at the other parent's home.  This is an understandable concern but that is the current state of the system.  If you are dealing with such a situation, keep a close eye on what is going on and document any serious issues that occur at the other parent's home because parenting time is always modifiable and you can file motions after the divorce to change the parenting time schedule or place restrictions on the parenting time.

This is a very difficult and complex area of family law, if you are facing these issues or considering filing for divorce, do not hesitate to contact us by clicking on this link or calling (248) 608-4123.