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Seniors read concerning "MI- custody when one parent moves away suddenly"

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gam

Senior Member
I've been following this since my court orders were out of Michigan. Now, in MY court order, this specific verbiage was never there:
There are specific statutes in Michigan that require every final order or judgment with minor children to state that:

You must petition the Court if you wish to change the domicile / residence of the child / children from the state of Michigan.
If the parents both have legal custody, and one of them wishes to move more than 100 miles away from the other parent, they must either have the agreement with the other party or petition the Court.

This did NOT appear in ANY of my court orders and it covered 16 years (we finally aged out 8 months ago.) The OP could very well NOT have it.
Yes, the OP may not have it or the OP may have different verbiage in hers. Court orders dated after Jan 9 2001 must contain it. But there are exceptions to that if the parents agree to some other kind of verbiage that can replace it or a Judge can change the verbiage.

This is the part that most are NOT aware of (thank you Gam):
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(evlli1j2px1u4mqepmeopw1f))/mileg.aspx?page=getobject&objectname=mcl-722-31

722.31 Legal residence change of child whose parental custody governed by court order.
Sec. 11.

(1) A child whose parental custody is governed by court order has, for the purposes of this section, a legal residence with each parent. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a parent of a child whose custody is governed by court order shall not change a legal residence of the child to a location that is more than 100 miles from the child's legal residence at the time of the commencement of the action in which the order is issued.

(2) A parent's change of a child's legal residence is not restricted by subsection (1) if the other parent consents to, or if the court, after complying with subsection (4), permits, the residence change. This section does not apply if the order governing the child's custody grants sole legal custody to 1 of the child's parents.

(3) This section does not apply if, at the time of the commencement of the action in which the custody order is issued, the child's 2 residences were more than 100 miles apart. This section does not apply if the legal residence change results in the child's 2 legal residences being closer to each other than before the change.


Now, under #2, if the other parent CONSENTS, they are NOT required to go to court. Ultimately, court papers do need to be filed to change parenting time.
If the other parent consents they do not have to go to court, but I would advise anyone to get that consent in writing and submit it to your case file in case the other parent loses their memory on consenting.

#3 the first sentence in this section is not in my daughters order, the Judge took it out based on circumstances.

Court papers will need to be filed to change parenting time for sure if the parties can't agree on a new plan. If one party moves and they can't do that current plan, they can't demand the other parent haul the child to the airport or to the other state or pay for a plane ticket to get the child to the other parent or change the current time to blocks of time. What they can do is nicely work with the other parent and work out a new plan. If they won't do that, then tough it's their problem the other parent does not have to do anything that is not in the current order.

I was aware of this little provision because it allowed my child to consider Michigan schools if she wanted to brave the cold and snow again. Ultimately, she opted to stay here in Florida. I just never realized that it restricted an NCP from moving further than 100 miles if the other parent objected.

I never could get a straight answer on if the moving applied to the NCP or not. Then the NCP in my other daughters case moved, daughter refused to do the plan he was asking, he refused her plan. He then turned around and filed. My daughters lawyer said yes it applies to the NCP however no Judge ever applies it, they had 2 motions he filed to deal with, so she skipped that part. Didn't matter cause he had it right in his motion to modify CS, he said he moved states, so now he has a lower paying job. Judge flipped out cause he moved without my daughters or the courts permission.

That's was about 1 1/2 years ago, but I just sat through 2 other cases(work related), 2 other counties, 2 other Judges and they did just about the same with it as my daughters Judge did.

Here is what I saw as to why they did all flip. That piece is law, that piece or something agreed to must go in court orders. By not following it and asking permission to move, they were in contempt OF THE COURT(capitalized those 3 words cause all 3 Judges shouted them several times). The law states the child has 2 legal addresses, your moving 1 of those legal addresses.

Next all 3 cases were joint legal. In joint legal you must jointly agree to major decisions concerning the child. Moving 1 of the childs residence far away is a major decision. You first have to attempt to make an agreement with the other parent on that decision, if you can't come to one your only option after that is to have the court make it. YOU CAN'T MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION. All 3 of the NCP's in these cases did just that they made their own major decision. That's also contempt.

Technically the NCP is not asking the courts permission for the NCP to move, they are asking the courts permission to move 1 of the childs legal addresses. This is what confuses so many, cause the court can't deny an adult to move if they want to, but then can deny the adult to move the child if it's a split situation. Moving 1 of the legal addresses is moving the child, so you need the other parents permission or the courts.
 


anisaerah

Member
Yes, we have joint legal. He already has a bench warrant out for missing a court date.

He's refused to agree with the parenting plan I proposed, so I have filed for a change (FOC said to just use the address he has on file with the court.)
 

gam

Senior Member
Yes, we have joint legal. He already has a bench warrant out for missing a court date.

He's refused to agree with the parenting plan I proposed, so I have filed for a change (FOC said to just use the address he has on file with the court.)

When you both put this into the courts hands, one of your responsibilities is to make sure FOC has a change of address. Cause whatever the court has as the current address is what you would use to file. However if you know dads address of where he is moving or can find that out, I highly suggest you send a copy there to. Just the right thing to do and you may get asked in court if you made any attempts to find out a current address.

While your waiting come up ON PAPER with a parenting plan for dads move, take that with you. Look up and see if you can find your county's Parenting Time Guideline(if I remember your older posts correctly, I could not locate one for your county), usually on the FOC section of the circuit court and often in the Friend of the Court handbook. You can use the Michigan Parenting Time Guideline, just keep in mind your county does not have to follow that and most county's guidelines are often different then this one, but it will give you a genreral idea.
http://courts.mi.gov/Administration/SCAO/Resources/Documents/Publications/Manuals/focb/pt_gdlns.pdf

Also if you can't find your county's guideline, check out neighboring counties, Macombs is online as is Waynes, again it helps to give you a general rule.

You already had a long distance plan before, not sure if that was an agreement you 2 worked out or if the court made it. If you need any help with what to offer or what to make sure you have in your plan to make it go smoothly let me know.
 

anisaerah

Member
When you both put this into the courts hands, one of your responsibilities is to make sure FOC has a change of address. Cause whatever the court has as the current address is what you would use to file. However if you know dads address of where he is moving or can find that out, I highly suggest you send a copy there to. Just the right thing to do and you may get asked in court if you made any attempts to find out a current address.

While your waiting come up ON PAPER with a parenting plan for dads move, take that with you. Look up and see if you can find your county's Parenting Time Guideline(if I remember your older posts correctly, I could not locate one for your county), usually on the FOC section of the circuit court and often in the Friend of the Court handbook. You can use the Michigan Parenting Time Guideline, just keep in mind your county does not have to follow that and most county's guidelines are often different then this one, but it will give you a genreral idea.
http://courts.mi.gov/Administration/SCAO/Resources/Documents/Publications/Manuals/focb/pt_gdlns.pdf

Also if you can't find your county's guideline, check out neighboring counties, Macombs is online as is Waynes, again it helps to give you a general rule.

You already had a long distance plan before, not sure if that was an agreement you 2 worked out or if the court made it. If you need any help with what to offer or what to make sure you have in your plan to make it go smoothly let me know.

I have already notified him via text to his wife's cell phone (currently the only way to contact him, as he has not given me an address yet, and refuses to get a phone for himself; I'm already having issues with her responding to texts specifically sent to him regarding our daughter and saying "she has to deal with me" before she relays the message). I plan on mailing him a copy of what I filed when I have an address for him in OR and also plan on reminding he and his family about the hearing when it is scheduled. He's been calling our daughter and sending her postcards regularly, FWIW.

I said this in the FOC document I filed, and included a parenting time plan that is similar to what we had when he lived in TN, but with more specifics about flight scheduling and notifying ahead of time for extended summer parenting time - basically all her school breaks, except for alternate Thanksgivings, and half the summer, with him paying for all transportation. I also put in something saying I would have to provide "reasonable" amounts of parenting time if he decides to travel back to the Detroit area; that language seems wishy-washy, but I do plan on being cooperative and not a jerk about that.

I appreciate the helpful response (and even all the previous suspicious ones from others, because that's actually helpful too, for perspective)!
 

txmom512

Member
anisaerah - it looks like your ex is over on the Men's site. Wow, what a piece of work... Seniors I'd suggest taking a look, you can see just what OP has been having to deal with...
 

anisaerah

Member
Holy. Crap.

I'll be nice and give him the half hour it takes me to drive home to where my printer is to delete all that.

I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and tell myself it's his wife. (They were already dating when he first started that thread two years ago).

It's pretty damn telling how he doesn't mention how I went to his court hearing in March and spoke up about him being an active parent even though he owes me a lot of child support, or that the referee told him to thank me for that.

I guess I should be glad that he actually took my advice to check that forum out?
 

Proserpina

Senior Member
Read with caution!

That's 20 pages of... even I can't find the words. And it's 20 minutes you'll never get back!


Let me put it another way. He makes spinny look like Mr Calm, Rational And Decisive 2015.
 

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