UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW

At what age can a child choose which parent to live with?

In early February, I wrote a post about this question. Then I left for a vacation and 3 weeks went by. When I returned and looked at my Blog, there was a comment (a question) from a child (a teenager, I surmised). This child's question / comment essentially indicated that he or she felt caught in the middle. The child expressed concern about trying to make both parents happy.

By the time I answered the question, the email address for the child was no longer operational.

Can a putative father protect his parental rights by filing a Notice of Intent?

A lawyer on the Family Law Listserv asked today about whether a putative father can protect his parental rights by filing a “notice of intent to claim paternity.” In responding to this question, I note the major pitfalls a putative father may have in protecting his parental rights.

Section 33 of the Michigan Adoption Code  [MCL 710.33] provides for the filing of a Notice of intent to claim paternity and operates somewhat like a central registry.  In pertinent part:

Single Mothers By Choice

Things sure are different from 1959 when I was growing up. [How many of the girls in my high school class are on their 2nd or 3rd husbands?]

Modern times? Jennifer Egan writes for the magazine section of the New York Times today about young (and not so young) ladies -- career girls who've been unsuccessfully looking for "Mr. Right" -- who are electing to bypass the love and marriage and go right to the baby carriage. They're buying sperm online and talking about their experiences on a listserv "Single Mothers By Choice."

See, Wanted: A Few Good Sperm in the March 19, 2006 New York Times.

Parentage issues have long been of special interest to Jeanne Hannah. For more information on parentage issues, you may read articles on Jeanne Hannah's website.

How can a man protect his paternity rights if the mother wants to place the child for adoption?

Today, the New York Times published a news story about a father living in Arizona whose parental rights were terminated by a Florida court so that the child born to his former fiance could be adopted. Jeremiah Clayton Jones learned that about the pregnancy just three weeks prior to the child’s birth when an adoption agency telephoned him to inquire whether he would consent to an adoption. He decided to raise the child that his former girlfriend did not wish to keep. He hired a lawyer and filed a paternity case in Florida where the mother lived on the day before the child was born. See Unwed Fathers Fight for Babies Placed for Adoption by Mothers, NY Times March 19, 2006.

Should Same-sex Couples Be Permitted to Adopt?

This seems like a classic example of the Burger King chain's advertising: "Have it your way." In other words, political considerations often lead a potential candidate for the presidency to speak out of both sides of his/her mouth in the hope that all of his constituents will hear what they want to hear.

The Boston Globe reported on March 14, 2006, that Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, in an appearance at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis on Friday, March 10th, reiterated his position that "every child in American has the right to a mother and a father." The gathering is an important early event for those positioning themselves as presidential hopefuls. But on March 13th, Romney backed off a little, telling reporters that same-sex couples have "a legitimate interest in adopting children."

Apparently, in an effort to placate part of his constituency that favors gay and lesbian rights, Romney said he would file a "very narrow" bill aimed at letting Catholic Charities, the social service arm of the Boston Archdiocese, and other religious groups exclude same-sex couples from their adoption programs if including them violates religious tenets. But he also noted that gays and lesbians have a right to adopt.