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Even though the trial court did not conduct an interview with the parties’ children regarding their custody preferences, the decision to grant the plaintiff-mother sole legal custody was appropriate, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

The trial court’s decision regarding the minor child’s schooling was appropriate because the court did not abuse its discretion in changing the child’s established custodial environment after evaluating the statutory best interest factors, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

The trial court in this custody action erroneously discounted the role of the parent who worked outside the home and, as a result, improperly ruled that the child only had an established custodial environment with the stay-at-home parent, the Michigan Court of Appeals has decided.

A father’s use of corporal punishment as a disciplinary method constituted domestic violence and, as a result, the trial court properly modified custody to give the mother sole legal and physical custody of the children, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

In this action involving a mother’s motion to relocate the parties’ child to Sault Ste. Marie, the trial court erred by failing to properly address whether an established custodial environment existed and, if it did, whether the relocation would alter that environment, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

Speaker Law Firm received its second published opinion of the week

The Michigan Court of Appeals has peremptorily vacated a trial court order that denied a mother’s motion to transfer a child-custody case from Michigan to Idaho.

This week, the Court of Appeals released a published opinion in McConchie v Voight, Docket No. 326651 (September 15, 2015) (Shapiro, J, author), addressing the "grossly improper" actions of Judge Reader of the Livingston County Circuit Court and one of the Friend of the Court referees in regard to the custody of the parties' child. Slip op at 5. The referee and judge violated a host of well-established procedural and substantive requirements in awarding the father with sole physical custody.

After hearing argument on application, the Michigan Supreme Court recently issued an Order in lieu of granting leave. remanding a divorce case to the circuit court for clarification of an alimony award. In Friend v Friend , the parties sought a divorce after a 25 year marriage producing two children. The trial court ordered joint legal custody of the couple’s two minor children, while awarding the wife sole physical custody. The trial court permitted the mother to relocate to South Carolina with the children but entered orders for parenting time.