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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In Silverman v Silverman (Docket No. 336905, unpublished opinion), the Court of Appeals said the trial court could not “simply disregard the prenuptial agreement and resort to equitable considerations without any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.
Posted: Jul 3, 2008, 11:00 AM
In Estes v Titus, a woman brought a wrongful death suit against the man who killed her husband. She obtains a judgment but when it came time to collect the wrongful death judgment, the man was in prison for the murder with no assets (because he had transferred all of his assets to his wife when they divorced after the wrongful death suit began).
Posted: Mar 26, 2008, 3:55 PM
In Berger v. Berger, a Defendant-father appealed from a judgment of divorce to the
Michigan Court of Appeals following a Trial Court ruling that the Plaintiff-mother was to receive custody of the parties two children as well as a 70/30 division of marital property.
Posted: Feb 20, 2008, 2:30 PM
What was this defendant thinking?
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