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Recent Blog Posts
Understanding Michigan’s Legal Separation Process
For a variety of reasons, when a married couple is struggling to make their relationship work, it does not always make sense for one of them to file for divorce. However, if a couple’s struggles are significant enough, separating from one another may be a healthy option. By legally formalizing their separation, each spouse can benefit from numerous protections as they contemplate whether divorce, reconciliation, or long-term legal separation is the best way forward.
Separate Maintenance: The Basics
In Michigan, the state recognizes a formal separation through the separate maintenance process. Separate maintenance functions like the “legal separation” process does in other states. Without formal recognition of a couple’s separation, each spouse could remain uniquely vulnerable to the practical, financial, and legal consequences of the other’s conduct. Additionally, formalizing a separation can allow couples to detail child custody, child support, and spousal support obligations in legally-enforceable ways.
What Is the Best Interests of the Child Standard and Why Does It Matter?
Not all child custody disputes can be resolved amicably. Sometimes, a history of domestic violence or mental health challenges renders a negotiation-based approach unworkable. Other times, parents simply have fundamentally different ideas about where their children should reside or how they should be raised.
Under these circumstances, the judge assigned to a particular child custody dispute will be called upon to decide how the matter should be resolved. In every state in the U.S., regardless of nuanced state law that applies to custody scenarios, judges are required to resolve contentious child custody questions by applying the “best interests of the child” standard.
Application of the Standard
This standard compels judges to consider – first and foremost – which competing argument would best serve an affected child’s interests. This is a noble aim. However, the standard itself is subjective. Each judge who reviews a child custody dispute is going to be influenced by their own conscious and subconscious biases about what children need and will benefit from.
The Time to Plan for Summer Coparenting Is Now
In Michigan, February is the month that most residents start thinking about summer. The cold has defined life for long enough that dreams of hot summer days start to preoccupy the minds of many. Daydreaming is a healthy stress reliever. Yet, there is another important reason to start thinking about summer now if you are a coparent. A failure to be proactive now could impact your summer months for the worse.
Summer Is a Unique Time
Whether you are currently navigating a separation, a divorce, or your child custody order has been in place for some time, it is important to consider how your coparenting approaches may need to be modified during the summer months. The best interests of your child or children likely manifest in different ways during the summer than they do during the school year. Carefully considering either how to craft a parenting plan for the summer or whether your current order needs to be modified in February will better ensure that a healthy, manageable arrangement is in place by the time that summer rolls around.
Questions to Consider Before Filing for Divorce
It is not always easy to know whether it makes more sense to file for legal separation or to file for divorce when spouses are struggling to find a way forward together. All too often, spouses who are navigating this challenge are under the impression that they have to resolve this situation without assistance. In reality, connecting with an attorney proactively can help each spouse to make informed decisions about their options.
Oftentimes, thinking critically about a few key questions can provide spouses with mental and emotional clarity. Discussing their situation with an attorney can provide clarity of both legal and practical varieties. Here are just a few of the key questions you may want to consider if you are unsure of whether to file for legal separation or divorce at this point in your relationship.
Are You More Concerned About the Stresses of Divorce or the Stresses of an Ongoing Union?
Very understandably, many couples shy away from filing for divorce because they are concerned about how the stresses of the divorce process will affect everyone involved. Sometimes, these concerns can serve as a “gut check” regarding one’s own desires.
Is Virtual Visitation Right for Your Family?
If you and your child’s other parent are going your separate ways but will both remain active parents to your child, it is time to construct a parenting time schedule and a parenting time plan. These parenting time resources will help you to clarify when your child will spend time with each of you, how you will address certain co-parenting responsibilities, and how you will both remain connected to your child when they are not residing with you.
Remaining connected and invested in each other’s lives is important, no matter how often your child resides with each parent. In the Digital Age, many co-parents are finding that including so-called “virtual visitation” provisions in their parenting time plans can help to facilitate consistent communication and connection.
What Is Virtual Visitation?
Virtual visitation can be accomplished by engaging in any form of electronic communication that is developmentally appropriate for your child. You can talk on the phone, send emails, text, play video game apps as “friends,” utilize a video call app, or even record stories that your co-parent can play when your child is falling asleep.
Preparing to Divide a Michigan Marital Estate
If you and your spouse have decided to dissolve your marriage, you are currently facing a number of mental, emotional, social, practical, financial, and legal challenges. It is important to understand your rights as a divorcing spouse, as this context can help to ensure that you make informed decisions throughout your divorce process.
For example, in Michigan, you are entitled to an asset division settlement that is “equitable.” Equitable does not necessarily mean equal. In equal distribution states, the value of a couple’s marital property must be divided 50/50. In Michigan, the value of a couple’s marital estate may be divided in any way that is truly fair. As a result, it is important to clarify what fairness means within the context of your unique marital circumstances.
Equitable Distribution
In Michigan, property acquired during a couple’s marriage is generally treated as marital property. By contrast, separate property belongs to one spouse only, either because they owned the property prior to marriage or because some exception to the general classification of marital property applies. All of the assets and liabilities that make up a couple’s jointly-owned assets and debts are considered elements of their overall marital estate.
Creating an Effective Michigan Parenting Time Plan
In Michigan, a parenting time schedule and a parenting time plan are both ordinarily included as elements of a child custody order. When parents agree on the terms of their parenting time plans, their attorneys assist them with finalizing and formalizing these terms before they are submitted to the court for approval. If parents cannot agree to these terms, a judge will be called upon to order whatever arrangement they believe is in the affected child’s best interests.
If you and your child’s other parent need to craft workable parenting time plans, there are a few solid tips that you will want to consider. If you hope to reach an agreement, you can work through this process together with the help of your attorneys. If your child custody situation is contentious, your attorney can help you craft terms that reflect your child’s best interests so that your proposal is more likely to be viewed favorably by the judge assigned to your case.
Divorce Filing Rates Are Highest as a New Year Dawns
More couples begin seeking legal assistance with initiating the divorce process in January than they do during any other month. Because it takes time to process initial divorce-related paperwork, the number of divorce cases filed with courts in Michigan and throughout the country ultimately hit their peak for the year in March.
There are a variety of reasons why January has widely come to be known as “divorce month.” Parents of minors generally avoid filing for divorce during mid-to-late summer because they do not want to disrupt the start of the school year. Then, they hold off during the start of the year and into the holidays for the sake of their kids. Couples without kids often avoid filing for divorce during the fall months and into the holiday season to spare their loved ones excessive stress as well.
If you are thinking about filing for divorce now that the New Year has dawned, you will want to carefully consider how you will approach this process. Your approach will inform everything from how you will go about dividing your marital assets to how much you are likely to incur in legal fees.
Can a Child Choose Which Parent to Live With in a Divorce?
Custody disputes between divorced or separated parents can be heated, and not only for the parents. Sometimes children have strong preferences about their living arrangements and may express those preferences, much to the disappointment or surprise of either parent. If you are engaged in a custody dispute in Michigan and are wondering whether your child has the authority to choose whether they live with one parent or the other, read this brief overview of the topic and then contact a Michigan child custody attorney who can help.
How Old Does a Child Need to Be Before They Can Choose Which Parent They Live With?
Ultimately, a child needs to be 18 before they can make any final decisions about where to live. However, Michigan law does allow the preferences of a child to be considered as one factor in custody decisions. However, it is only one factor out of many.
Other factors include:
Do I Have to Dissolve My Professional Practice If I Get Divorced?
Divorce is full of challenges and frustrations, and for most couples, asset division is one of these. For spouses who own or manage a professional practice, the idea of dividing something so intimately connected with one’s own labor, ability, and identity may feel insulting. Nevertheless, Michigan law requires all marital assets to be divided, and professional practices are rarely excluded from these. If you are a dentist, psychologist, physician, attorney, consultant, or any other professional who has their own company, read on and then contact a Michigan divorce attorney for assistance with your case.
Is My Professional Practice Marital Property?
Professional practices are built carefully with years of effort. Often, even if only one spouse is involved in working with a professional practice, both spouses have contributed to the worth and development of the practice over the years. This is especially true if one spouse worked while the professional spouse pursued an education and got their business off the ground. Practices begun after a couple is already married are considered marital property in Michigan.
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