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Posted: Feb 19, 2020, 2:15 PM
A settlement agreement signed by the parties in this divorce action was valid and enforceable, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled, even though the mediator did not conduct any domestic violence screening pursuant to the Michigan court rules.
Posted: Feb 12, 2020, 10:40 AM
The plaintiff and the defendant divorced in 2013. Pursuant to a consent judgment, the plaintiff was awarded “sole care, custody and control” of the parties three children and the defendant was ordered to pay child and spousal support.
Posted: Dec 18, 2019, 9:35 AM
The plaintiff and the defendant, who were married for 29 years, entered into a consent judgment of divorce in 2014. The judgment included a spousal support provision that said the plaintiff would receive spousal support for 10 years, until the plaintiff’s death or until she remarried, whichever occurred first
Posted: Dec 11, 2019, 11:50 AM
The ex-wife in Ripley (Docket No. 327285) argued the trial court wrongly allocated two assets to the defendant – the accounts receivable at his law firm and a GTO – without first including their value in the marital estate. The ex-wife also claimed the trial court’s overall division of the marital estate was inequitable.
Posted: Dec 4, 2019, 10:45 AM
The plaintiff and the defendant were married in October 1995. When the couple divorced in 2018, the plaintiff was 58 years old and the defendant was 65 years old. The parties have two children, one of whom was a minor at the time of the divorce.
Posted: May 1, 2019, 3:59 PM
Thirty-seven years after parties were divorced, Oakland Circuit Court Judge Valentine issued a post-judgment order requiring the defendant to pay $2,500 in monthly spousal support to the plaintiff.
Posted: Sep 6, 2018, 12:25 PM
A trial court erred in distributing a divorcing couple’s marital property because the parties’ prenuptial agreement was ignored in doing so, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
In Silverman v Silverman (Docket No. 336905, unpublished opinion), the Court of Appeals said the trial court could not “simply disregard the prenuptial agreement and resort to equitable considerations without any analysis as to why it was doing so.”
Posted: Aug 15, 2018, 9:15 AM
A spousal support award and the division of property in a divorce case must be vacated because the trial court engaged in a “parade of errors” – namely, denying the husband’s constitutional right to counsel, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
Posted: Aug 8, 2018, 1:15 PM
Michigan family-law attorneys can place a lien on a client’s property to be awarded in a divorce proceeding as payment for legal services – as long as certain requirements are met, according to a State Bar of Michigan ethics opinion.
Posted: Aug 1, 2018, 9:15 AM
The Michigan Court of Appeals has vacated an order denying a divorced father’s request to change the school his children attend, finding the trial court failed to 1) address the children’s established custodial environment, 2) describe the applicable burden of proof and 3) consider the Child Custody Act’s best-interest factors.
In Marik v Marik (Docket No. 333687), the Court of Appeals remanded the case so the trial court could properly handle these issues.
Posted: Apr 3, 2018, 9:49 PM
A recent Georgia Court of Appeals decision resolves a two-year-long jurisdictional dispute between spouses regarding whether, under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), their custody case should proceed in Michigan or Georgia.
Posted: Mar 14, 2018, 5:58 PM
The three-year time limit for filing a paternity challenge under the Revocation of Paternity Act (RPA) does not apply when the presumed father raises the issue in a divorce action, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
Posted: Mar 5, 2018, 2:15 PM
A trial court erroneously used a “preponderance of the evidence” standard to determine it was in the child’s best interest to change the established custodial arrangement, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in a 2-1 decision that may create more confusion as to how to apply the burden in custody cases.
Posted: May 9, 2017, 7:50 PM
The Michigan Association for Justice published an article by Liisa Speaker
Posted: May 8, 2013, 5:15 PM
On April 16, 2013, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed in a published opinion a trial court’s grant of a judgment of divorce, despite the fact that the plaintiff-wife in the divorce was mentally incompetent and the defendant-husband in the divorce was no longer male. In Estate of Devon Burnett, Docket 309640.
Posted: Aug 16, 2010, 4:00 PM
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.
Posted: Aug 14, 2009, 4:10 PM
In Vanderark v Vanderark, the Court of Appeals concluded the the trial court erroneously held that the plaintiff was the equitable parent of a minor child born to plaintiff's wife during the marriage. Plaintiff and Defendant married in 2002, but defendant began an affair in 2007. During the course of the affair, defendant conceived a child with her lover and the record showed that she never told plaintiff (her husband) that he was the child's father or that there was any uncertainty regarding the child's paternity.
Posted: May 20, 2009, 3:55 PM
The Court of Appeals reversed a Michigan trial court's decision to recognize a foreign divorce in Tarikonda v Pinjari (unpublished decision).
Posted: Dec 17, 2008, 8:55 AM
The Supreme Court issued an order on the long-awaited non-refundable retainer case pending before it in Cooper v Attorney Grievance Commission. In that case, the client hired an attorney to represent her in a divorce action. The attorney charged a $4,000 nonrefundable retainer and her fee agreement with the client stated that the $4,000 was a “minimum fee.”
Posted: Oct 15, 2008, 5:00 PM
Getting stuck with joint liability for attorneys’ fees after a reversal in the COA is like being saddled with the dinner tab after a bad date--no fair.
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