UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW

Relocations | Comparing Schools is Part of the Task

Family courts are inundated with requests for relocations just before the beginning of the school year. According to the Detroit Free Press, Michigan's Department of Education just released its mandated report "2011 Public School Ranking Top to Bottom" for Michigan schools. These rankings may be useful for parents and family lawyers dealing with relocation motions.

The state released the latest round of top-to-bottom school rankings     today for Michigan schools. This is the second year the state has created statewide rankings and the methodology has changed; therefore, a school's rank in 2010 is not directly comparable to its rank in 2011. These rankings of student achievement and on growth of student bodies are based on student achievement as shown by test results on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) for elementary/middle school students and the Michigan Merit Examination (MME) for high school students. Something new this year--the top to bottom rankings also include achievement gap data for all schools and graduation rates for high schoools.

Parental Abduction | Another Resource for Left Behind Parents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Bob D'Amico, Administrator of the Bring Sean Home Foundations's website for this important piece of  information.

The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy | Modern Family of Choice & Its Ethical Dilemma

Ruth Padawer has written a fascinating article, “The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy,” recently published in the New York Times Magazine section. I have to say Padawer literally took my breath away. There are so many questions; the choices are so personal. The reduction of a multiple pregnancy involves ethical, religious, social, moral, emotional and personal dilemmas. Obviously, ultimately, the choice is made by the prospective parents.

The reduction of a pregnancy from twins to a singular child, however, is a procedure only recently available. Padawer writes of young and not-so-young mothers pregnant with twins each of whom chooses, for various reasons, to have reduction in the pregnancy so that she will bear only one child. Most often, this procedure is sought after fertility treatments.

Prevention of Parental Abduction | Recognizing the Red Flags

Families are under so much stress in today's society--financial and relationship stress--that parental abduction of the children may become an issue in any given family. I have often been contacted in the past year by a parent who says his/her spouse has taken the children and moved to another state. I advise them of their rights under the UCCJEA, and of the importance of protecting home state jurisdiction by seeking return of the children to their home state before six months have elapsed, after which the new state may become the "home state" of the children where a custody battle would have to be waged. [A later post will discuss the concept of "extended home state jurisdiction."]

Abduction prevention and recovery of abducted children has become a major part of my practice. Because the effects of abduction on children can be very serious [See Part I of this series], it is important for parents to put preventative measures in place. The purpose of today's post is to provide parents with information to help them assess whether they should be concerned about parental abduction. 

Legal Citations | Valuable On-line Guide

Do you ever wonder if your citations to case law, to law journal articles, on-line materials, etc. in a legal brief are correct?

Times have changed so much since I read that little blue book in law school with instructions for correct citation. I've discovered a tremendous resource on the Cornell website--a guide to proper citation. It may be used online or, for $20, you may order a copy to download on your computer or to your Kindle.

Peter W. Martin, Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (online ed. 2010), http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/index.htm [Last accessed August 7, 2011]

You can browse through the Table of Contents here--with hot links. http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/full_toc.htm#7-400 [Last accessed August 7, 2011]

Division of Military Pensions in Divorce Judgments

At the recent Summer Seminar, one of the published decisions Scott Bassett summarized during his    presentation was Megee v Carmine, Docket No. 292207, (For Publication), November 16, 2010. Michigan Court of Appeals.  It dealt with the consequences of the husband's post-divorce waiver of retirement pay in favor of collecting combat-related special compensation (CRSC). 

The parties' judgment of divorce was entered in September 1989. In the judgment, defendant Carmine [f/k/a Megee] was awarded 50 percent of plaintiff’s Navy disposable retirement pay as part of the property division. The judgment incorporated a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) to enforce that provision. The QDRO acknowledged the 50-percent division of plaintiff’s disposable retirement pay, also referred to therein as his pension, and it prevented plaintiff from making another benefit election “that would otherwise reduce the monthly pension allotment without the written consent [of defendant].”

Parental Abduction Part I | The Emotional and Social Cost

I've often heard people say, when told that the other parent ran off with the parties' child or children: "Oh well. At least the children are safe. How bad can it be if the child is with his mother (father)?" It's easy to generalize and think that just because it's a parent and not a stranger who took the child that the child is "safe."

For many years, I have been helping parents recover children abducted by the other parent. (In two cases, it was an aunt who took the child after the custodial parent had died and a grandmother who took the child after her son lost custody). I've come to realize that the fact that a parent is the abductor or "taking parent" [hereafter "TP"], does not mean that the child is unharmed.