Custody

Custody FAQs

Custody Overview

There are two types of custody. First is "legal" custody, which involves the ability to make decisions regarding the child's education, health and welfare. Predominantly, courts will order joint legal custody, giving both parents the right to make these decisions.

Frequently, the most difficult issue in a divorce is determining "physical" custody. The parent who has physical custody is the person who actually raises the child in their home. The court's decision must be in the best interest of the children, not the parents.

Legal Custody

When the parties have joint legal custody, it means that will consult together on major policy decisions relating to the health, education, and welfare of the child. Specifically, it means that each party is entitled to complete access to the child’s medical and school records, that each party has the right to be advised promptly of any serious illness, emergency, or any other significant event that arises.

However, parties need to understand that joint legal custody does not give a party the right to be involved in every decision regarding the child’s life. When a parent is exercising their parenting time, they have the right to make decisions about the children’s activities, meals, etc. while they are in their care.

Physical Custody/Parenting Time Arrangements

There is no such thing as a “standard” custody/parenting time arrangement. While it is common for the non-custodial parent to have parenting time every other weekend and one night during each week, the parties can be flexible in determining a schedule that works around their work schedules and the amount of time they want to spend with their children.

There is a movement in the legislature to remove the word “custody” from Michigan’s divorce statutes. Those in favor believe that too many divorcing parents are more concerned with “getting custody” than doing what is in the best interests of the children. They believe if you remove the “custody battle,” it frees up the parents to focus on dividing the parenting time each has with the children.

Similarly, parties can agree to joint physical custody even if the children reside primarily with one parent and spend a majority of their time in one parent’s care.

At Pitler Family Law & Mediation, P.C., we believe that it is in the best interest of the children to have two parents actively involved in their lives. Therefore, we encourage our clients to negotiate a parenting time schedule that allows for both parents to spend a substantial amount of time with the children.

Determining Physical Custody

If the parties cannot agree on which party shall have physical custody, the courts will decide. In making a determination regarding custody, Michigan law provides for twelve factors to be used to determine “the best interest of the children:”

a. The love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between the parties involved and the child.
b. The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to give the child love, affection, and guidance and to continue the education and raising of the child in his or her religion or creed, if any.
c. The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care or other remedial care recognized and permitted under the laws of this state in place of medical care, and other material needs.
d. The length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment, and the desirability of maintaining continuity.
e. The permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed custodial home or homes.
f. The moral fitness of the parties involved.
g. The mental and physical health of the parties involved.
h. The home, school, and community record of the child.
i. The reasonable preference of the child, if the court considers the child to be of sufficient age to express preference.
j. The willingness and ability of each of the parties to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent or the child and the parents.
k. Domestic violence, regardless of whether the violence was directed against or witnessed by the child.
l. Any other factor considered by the court to be relevant to a particular child custody dispute.

The court will weigh each of these factors individually and determine which are more favorable to each parent. Frequently, the court will find that both parents are equal on many of the factors.

Custody Evaluations

If the parties do not agree on a custodial agreement, the issue is first usually referred to the Friend of the Court (FOC) to investigate the issue and to make a recommendation. In doing so, the parties will initially meet with a FOC counselor. If necessary, the counselor may also interview other family members, teachers, social workers and other people who can provide information to the counselor regarding the family. In some situations, the counselor may meet with the children. Unfortunately, since most FOC offices are understaffed, they do not have the time to conduct an exhaustive evaluation. The counselor will then make a recommendation for custody by applying the twelve “best interest” factors.

If one or both parties disagree with the FOC recommendation, they will file an objection with the court. The attorney for a party that disagrees with the recommendation must then begin to build a case to prove to the court that it is in the best interests of the children for their client to have custody. This is when a divorce case will begin to get very expensive.

The first step in defeating an unfavorable FOC recommendation is to hire an expert, a private psychiatrist or psychologist to conduct an investigation. This evaluator will meet with each party individually in a clinical setting and will usually observe each parent interacting with the children. They may also interview family members, teachers, doctors, social workers and other people who can provide information about the parents and the children.

Once one party has retained an expert, the other party will usually retain their own psychiatrist or psychologist as an expert to testify on their behalf.

Friend of the Court

The Friend of the Court (FOC) is a county based organization that assists the court in issues related to children. In divorces and in cases where the parents were never married, the FOC conducts investigations and makes recommendations in matters of child custody, child support, parenting time and other related issues.

The FOC staff includes specialists in matters related to child related issues. Many of the staff are trained counselors and have degrees in social work and child development. They have been trained to try and identify and resolve any disputes related to children. Unfortunately, like many government offices, the Friend of the Court offices are severely underfunded and understaffed and ill equipped to handle their large caseloads. Therefore, the staff is frequently unable to give each case the attention that it deserves.

Each Family Court Judge has one or more FOC Referees that assist the judge in matters related to children. If a hearing on a custody, child support, parenting time or related issue is required, the hearing will usually be held in front of the Referee, who will make a ruling. If either party disagrees with the Referee’s ruling, they will have to file an objection and schedule another hearing in front of the Judge, who will make a final decision.

Once physical custody is established, any disputes related to custody or parenting time usually start in the FOC.

At Pitler Family Law, our Michigan divorce attorneys handle family law, divorce, child custody, parenting time, visitation, child support and alimony matters throughout the Detroit metropolitan area, including Farmington Hills, Livonia, Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Rochester, Mt. Clemens, Dearborn, Warren, Southfield, and all of Oakland County, Wayne County, Livingston County, and Macomb County.