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Michigan dad seeking custody arrangement

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curio92

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I'm interested in knowing how the system works for unmarried fathers who are looking to make a custody arrangement. In this case, the father never married the mother, they have a minor child (5 y/0), the mother lives in another state and the child has lived most of his life with his father and currently lives with his father full time but for maybe a week or two visiting his mother.

The mother is trying to have to child move to FL full time so the father can see his son on holidays but given that the child has grown up more with his dad in MI, the dad wants to have joint custody but with physical custody of the child (essentially keep the child going to school as he has been and continue his life in MI).

They have no legal arrangements in place so far.

Any advice/information??

Thanks :)
 


single317dad

Senior Member
1) Establish paternity. If you and Mom did not already sign the affidavit of parentage at the time of the child's birth, you'll need to petition the court to order a paternity test and adjudge you the child's father.

If you get it in your head that the Title IV-D or child support office will assist you in this, just stop right there and backtrack. That office is of no use to an unmarried father. While in most other situations I don't feel that the family court system is biased toward women, there is nothing CSE can do to help you right now, though they could help Mom if she asked.

2) File for custody. Ask for physical custody and joint legal custody. If Mom leaves the state with the child before you do this, ask the court to order the child returned to the jurisdiction of the court pending the outcome of the custody hearing. You should also consider filing for child support at this time.

3) Learn the rules (RCP) of your state and county. Learn how to properly format paperwork and when and how that paperwork should be delivered/served. Learn how to conduct yourself in a courtroom. Attend some public court hearings. Take a trip to the law library.

http://courts.mi.gov/courts/michigansupremecourt/rules/pages/current-court-rules.aspx

http://michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan/0,2351,7-160-50206_18639-52451--,00.html

Michigan's system is different than many states. There will be a Friend of the Court (FoC) who will assist your judge. There are a few members here who are quite familiar with Michigan's system; I'll defer to them on how the FoC affects your case and how you should prepare for that.

http://michiganlegalaid.org/library_client/resource.2005-05-29.1117417915770/html_view
 
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Just Blue

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I'm interested in knowing how the system works for unmarried fathers who are looking to make a custody arrangement. In this case, the father never married the mother, they have a minor child (5 y/0), the mother lives in another state and the child has lived most of his life with his father and currently lives with his father full time but for maybe a week or two visiting his mother.

The mother is trying to have to child move to FL full time so the father can see his son on holidays but given that the child has grown up more with his dad in MI, the dad wants to have joint custody but with physical custody of the child (essentially keep the child going to school as he has been and continue his life in MI).

They have no legal arrangements in place so far.

Any advice/information??

Thanks :)
It is really better if the Father was here to deal with his legal problems. Please ler him know we "are open" 24/7.

Thanks!!
Blue
 

gam

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I'm interested in knowing how the system works for unmarried fathers who are looking to make a custody arrangement. In this case, the father never married the mother, they have a minor child (5 y/0), the mother lives in another state and the child has lived most of his life with his father and currently lives with his father full time but for maybe a week or two visiting his mother.

The mother is trying to have to child move to FL full time so the father can see his son on holidays but given that the child has grown up more with his dad in MI, the dad wants to have joint custody but with physical custody of the child (essentially keep the child going to school as he has been and continue his life in MI).

They have no legal arrangements in place so far.

Any advice/information??

Thanks :)
And you are who in this? Dad needs to deal with this, so if your not dad have him sign on up.

Questions for dad to come answer

What state was the child born in? Did you sign the AOP? How long did you and mom live together with the child? How long has the child only been living with dad? How long has mom been living in Fl? Who registered the child in school in Mi, you or mom?
 

CSO286

Senior Member
1) Establish paternity. If you and Mom did not already sign the affidavit of parentage at the time of the child's birth, you'll need to petition the court to order a paternity test and adjudge you the child's father.

If you get it in your head that the Title IV-D or child support office will assist you in this, just stop right there and backtrack. That office is of no use to an unmarried father. While in most other situations I don't feel that the family court system is biased toward women, there is nothing CSE can do to help you right now, though they could help Mom if she asked.
Singledad, can i just interject a bit here?

As a former CSED IV-D/child support caseworker, I need to add to what you've posted. The office not "of no use to an unmarried father". What CSED does is establish and enforce child support orders. They are not in the business of establishing and/or changing custody orders. The same would be true in reverse if a mom went in asking CSED to help her obtain custody.
 

gam

Senior Member
Singledad, can i just interject a bit here?

As a former CSED IV-D/child support caseworker, I need to add to what you've posted. The office not "of no use to an unmarried father". What CSED does is establish and enforce child support orders. They are not in the business of establishing and/or changing custody orders. The same would be true in reverse if a mom went in asking CSED to help her obtain custody.
In Michigan we don't have a CSED, we have Friend of the Court(FOC), they help in establishing child support orders and they enforce child support/custody and parenting time orders. FOC only makes recommendations, they can't make any child support/custody or parenting time orders, only a Judge can do that.

Dad in this case though has the problem of not being married to mom, if the child was born in Michigan, then mom is presumed to have sole custody, even if dad signed the AOP. So dad needs to file directly with his county's Circuit Court for custody.
 

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