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FAMILY LAW 88: The trial court found that the children did not have an established custodial environment with defendant because, before the separation, he did not have a large role in the children’s lives.

In this custody case, Plaintiff abruptly left defendant after approximately 10 years of marriage and took the parties’ children from the couple’s home in Michigan, to live with her new boyfriend in Minnesota.

Separation

Defendant continued to reside in the marital home in Michigan. At the time of the separation, defendant was employed at a job in which he would work in Wisconsin for eight days then have six days off. The initial parenting schedule accommodated defendant’s work schedule, having the children reside with plaintiff when defendant was working and with defendant when he was off. Prior to and immediately after the separation, the children were homeschooled by plaintiff.

Motion for Primary Physical Custody

In the months following the separation, certain developments led defendant to file a motion for primary physical custody. First, defendant discovered that the children had significant educational deficiencies. Second, defendant obtained a new job that allowed him to stay in Michigan full-time. Defendant’s motion requested that he be granted primary physical custody, that the children be sent to public school in Michigan.

Established Custodial Environment

Ultimately, the court made plaintiff the children’s primary custodian, granted defendant parenting time two weekends each month, and ordered that the children attend school in Minnesota. Defendant argues that the trial court erred by finding that there was an established custodial environment only with plaintiff.

The custodial environment of a child is established if over an appreciable time the child naturally looks to the custodian in that environment for guidance, discipline, the necessities of life, and parental comfort. The age of the child, the physical environment, and the inclination of the custodian and the child as to permanency of the relationship shall also be considered.

The trial court found that the children did not have an established custodial environment with defendant because, before the separation, he did not have a large role in the children’s lives, and his enlarged role after the separation had not existed long enough to establish a custodial environment. The trial court credited plaintiff’s testimony that, before the parties’ separation, defendant spent minimal time helping to care for the children, so its finding that the children would not have looked to defendant for guidance, discipline, the necessities of life, and parental comfort during that time was not against the great weight of the evidence.

Assistance With Custody

If you are going through a divorce or are separating from the mother or father of your children, it is important to protect your custodial rights. If the divorce or separation process does not turn out like you thought it would, you may not have the custody you deserve.

Contact Aldrich Legal Services

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MICHIGAN REAL ESTATE 95: Property owners did not place a condition upon the delivery of the deed; rather, they delivered the deed to themselves.

When the delivery of a deed is contingent upon the happening of some future event, title to the subject property will not transfer to the grantee until the event has occurred. However, in this case A and J did not place a condition upon the delivery of the deed; rather, they delivered the deed to themselves, then deposited the deed with their attorney with the instruction to record the deed only upon the happening of a future event, thereby placing a condition only upon the recording of the deed.

MICHIGAN PROBATE 57: Brother granted permanent guardianship of siblings.

At a multiday hearing to address the extension of the guardianship, the eldest children, the mother’s relatives and friends, and school personnel testified regarding the mother’s care of the children, appellant’s treatment of and interaction with the children, and the eldest siblings’ role in aiding the mother to raise the children.

REAL ESTATE 89: RM had not included any language in the deed providing that the property was a joint tenancy with full rights of survivorship, the property instead became a tenancy in common.

RM drafted the deed without seeking counsel and mistakenly believed that, if either she or FK died, the property would fully pass to the surviving tenant. FK’s will provided that if his wife predeceased him—which she did—the personal representative of his estate should sell any residual property that he owned and divide the cash proceeds equally among his surviving children.

FAMILY LAW 83: A trial court can terminate a parent’s rights and permit a stepparent to adopt a child.

A trial court has discretion to terminate a parent’s rights and permit a stepparent to adopt a child when the conditions of MCL 710.51(6) are met. MCL 710.51(6)(b) requires the petitioner to establish that the other parent had the ability to visit, contact, or communicate with the children, and substantially failed or neglected to do so for a period of two years.

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