Michigan Family Law Blog

What Should I Do If My Child's Mom Isn't Letting Me See Our Child?

As a divorce lawyer of over twenty-two (22) years, I have seen many cases where one parent, either the mother or the father has interfered with the relationship between the child and the other parent or caused issues between the child and the other parent.  This can range from cases where parents have separated (this happens most often in cases where the parents are not married but can happen with married couples as well) and the mother insists on dictating every detail of parenting time, or on the other hand, issues where the mother would like to allow the father to have parenting time, but the father continues to make poor decisions, acts negatively toward her (the mother), neglects the child during his parenting time or the father exercises parenting time sporadically at best.  The parent that is attempting to have a relationship with the child or encourage the relationship with a difficult parent often feels powerless, confused or lost.  Of course, any of these scenarios can involve the mother or the father making the parenting errors.

In such cases it is important to take action as soon as possible.
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Will I Have to Pay Alimony in a Divorce?

Alimony is alive and well in Michigan but we call it spousal support.  Unlike child support, which is determined by a formula, spousal support is supposed to be determined by an examination of fourteen different factors and used to 

What if My Spouse Moves to Another County and Files For Divorce?

If one is considering divorce and his or her spouse plans to move out or has moved out of the marital home, fast action may be required depending on the circumstances.  The reason is venue.  To obtain jurisdiction over any divorce case, generally the person filing for divorce has to live in the state of Michigan for at least six (6) months before he or she may file for divorce in Michigan, otherwise he or she (or the spouse) may have to file for divorce in another state.  Venue determines the appropriate county where one should file for divorce.

In the case of venue, venue is established after the party has resided in a county for only ten (10) days.

New Michigan Case: Remarriage is Good Cause to Consider Modifying Parenting Time

In any divorce case involving children, custody and parenting time must be determined in some form or other.  There are two types of custody, legal custody and physical custody.   Physical custody is the type of custody that most people are familiar with and it deals with who has the child the majority of the time.  However, physical custody has become blurred with parenting time and really lost much of its meaning.  Parenting time refers to how the child's time is divided between the households, for instance it is not uncommon for one parent to have parenting time on Monday and Tuesday, the other parent on Wednesday and Thursday and both parties alternate weekends.
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Custody decisions are some of the most difficult decisions family court judges make during a family court case. The overriding consideration when determining custody should be the child’s best interest. Therefore, in making this decision, a judge may want to hear the child’s preferences and concerns. To that end, there are several ways a child may be heard at a custody hearing.

Q: Can punishment methods impact child custody?

There are many factors that might drive a couple to consider getting divorced in Michigan. Infidelity, financial stresses, and different parenting styles are just a few possible reasons couples may ultimately untie the knot.

Property division can be a fiercely litigated issue in a Michigan divorce proceeding. Michigan divorce laws require that marital property is divided equitably between the parties.

Alimony is also known in Michigan as spousal support.  There are two basic different types of alimony.  Alimony in gross is more like a property settlement where one spouse gives the other spouse more of the property rather than paying support to the other spouse.  Typically this type of alimony is paid in a lump sum shortly after the divorce, but it may also be paid in installments or the lump sum payment could be delayed.  When it comes to alimony in gross, if the paying ex-spouse passes away, the surviving ex-spouse can collect the outstanding amount due from the deceased ex-spouse's estate.

Many couples are choosing to enter prenuptial agreements for a variety of reasons. Some couples want to protect premarital property, or they have children from a prior relationship they want to protect. Other couples may want to settle issues related to a family business or family wealth. Regardless of the reason you want to discuss a prenuptial agreement, it is important to be organized and prepared for the meeting with a...

Divorce or separation are very emotional topics and can cause people to say any number of things which they may or may not mean.  One action often threatened is that a spouse will quit his or her job to avoid alimony, increase/decrease alimony or otherwise cause hardship to the spouse that wants out of the relationship if he or she files for divorce.  Conversely a spouse that is not employed outside of the home may threaten to refuse to seek any type of employment before, during or after a divorce.  This is actually a very bad idea, the loss of income will cause hardship on both parties in the short-term and it will be more damaging to the spouse that quits in the long-term.  The refusal to seek employment has a similar effect and can cause the person to actually receive less support than he or she actually should.

Very generally speaking, a divorce case starts when one spouse files what is called a "Complaint for Divorce".  Once the Complaint is filed, then the filing spouse must formally serve a copy of the Complaint on the other spouse in order to proceed with the case.  The case ends when the parties either come to an agreement on all the issues (often at mediation), put that agreement into a written document called a Judgment of Divorce, present the Judgment to the Judge and the Judge signs the Judgment.  Alternatively, the parties have a trail, the court (judge) makes its decision and then it signs the Judgement of Divorce and provides notice of its decision to the parties.  In either case, the parties are not divorced until the Judge signs the Judgment.
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