Michigan Parent Child

The mother has custody of the child unless the local family court or parents agree on something else in writing. When a parent has custody, this means the child will live with that parent. Either parent may file a claim at their local family court for parenting time or custody.

With 50/50 physical custody, each parent spends an equal amount of time with the child. Since this arrangement requires a lot of cooperation between parents, judges won't approve it unless they believe it will work and is in the child's best interest.

When parents cannot agree, the judge must decide custody by considering all of the following best interests factors of the Michigan Child Custody Act.(d) The length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment, and the desirability of maintaining continuity.

If parents in custody cases have not reached an agreement, the judge is asked to determine when a child is going to be with each parent.The judge must decide if joint custody is in the best interests of the child. The judge could award joint custody and equally divide the time the child spends with each parent.

Although courts may consider the reasonable preference of the child in custody cases, the caveat is that the child must be deemed to be of sufficient age to participate. What does this mean in the state of Michigan? For starters, any child age 17 or older can choose the parent he/she prefers to live with.

Under Michigan law, courts already can award joint physical custody, or shared physical custody.This means that the court would begin from the premise that parents always will share physical custody 50-50 unless there is a reason not to do so (namely, domestic violence).

Michigan - like most other states - has several different ways to recognize a child's parentage.If the parents are unmarried, the law allows a man to be legally recognized as the father of a child if both he and the child's mother sign and file what is known as an "Acknowledgement of Parentage" form.