Michigan Military Divorce

Unaccompanied minor flights | Tech tools for parents

Many family lawyers assist their clients in learning more about long distance parents and about how major airlines unaccompanied minor programs work. While researching the David and Sean Goldman case, I learned about a very helpful Internet tool that allows parents on both ends of the flight to keep track of where their children are in the journey. See Flight Aware at http://flightaware.com/live/flight/XFL5

Be careful what you wish for: Parenting time pitfalls to avoid

In Brausch v Brausch, 283 Mich App 339; ___ NW2d ___ (2009), decided by the Michigan court of appeals on April 14, 2009, the Court of Appeals reaffirmed that child custody provisions in a judgment of divorce cannot be and will not be governed by contract privileges.

In this case, the parties entered into a judgment of divorce that (1) granted Plaintiff Mother sole legal and sole physical custody, (2) granted the father “reasonable parenting time as agreed to by the parties,” (3) did not restrict Plaintiff Mother from moving more than 100 miles from Defendant Father, and (4) allowed interstates moves without permission from the trial court. Now there’s a recipe for disaster!

Here is the specific wording from the Brausch judgment of divorce. Following that are some specific guidelines for parents who should try to avoid the problems caused by the wording.

Significant increase in unwed births reported by CDC

An alarming statistic was revealed on May 15, 2009. According to the Center for Disease Control, about 40% of all babies born alive in the United States are born to unmarried mothers.

The CDC report highlights are these:

• Childbearing by unmarried women has resumed a steep climb since 2002.
• Births to unmarried women totaled 1,714,643 in 2007, 26% more than in 2002. Nearly 4 in 10 U.S. births were to unmarried women in 2007.
• Birth rates have risen considerably for unmarried women in their twenties and over, while declining or changing little for unmarried teenagers.
• Non-marital birth rates are highest for Hispanic women followed by black women. Rates for non-Hispanic white and Asian or Pacific Islander women are much lower.
• Most births to teenagers (86% in 2007) are non-marital, but 60% of births to women 20–24 and nearly one-third of births to women 25–29 were non-marital in 2007.
• Teenagers accounted for just 23% of non-marital births in 2007, down steeply from 50% in 1970. [This is significant because it means that the initiatives to reduce teen pregnancy are really working!]

How divorced parents can help children survive the holidays

Many children of divorce feel caught in the middle of their parent’s battles during the holiday season. Holidays should be a time for kids to experience the love, joy and magic. Instead, many children are confused, frustrated, sad and angry.

The stress divorce causes children during the holidays

The holiday season may be more difficult than usual for children of divorced or separated families.

• The excess chaos may cause children to feel anxious.
• Children may feel caught in the middle if their parents fight about who spends what time where.
• They may feel resentful when they must leave friends and family to stay with a non-custodial parent.

Parenting Plan Calculators, Planners, and Trackers

Family lawyers are often challenged to help clients work out parenting-time plans that allocate time with the child (or children) between the parents.  Ten years ago, Stephen J. Harhai described the problem like this: "The fundamental problem in working out time-sharing issues is that it is hard to visualize or calculate the effect of a given plan without a lot of grunt work. We have spent untold hours marking calendars, counting days, writing explanations, and generally driving ourselves crazy getting a handle on complicated time-sharing arrangements." ["Tools of the Trade" column in the Family Advocate (Vol. 20, No. 3)]

Unaccompanied minor rules: Children traveling alone

Elizabeth Sadowski posted the following helpful information on the State Bar's listserv on Friday. Summer is coming and many children will be traveling from the home of the custodial parent to the non-custodial parent's home for parenting time.

Liz says that "Policies for unaccompanied children differ among airlines, so you need to check the website for that particular carrier. " She did, however, post the rules for US Air and for Northwest Airlines.

Parenting time | parent with same-sex partner

I was asked today about whether a court would deny overnight parenting time to a parent who, after divorce, is involved in a same-sex relationship with a partner who resides in that parent's home.

As I've said before, every custody and parenting time case will ultimately be decided on its own facts. It is always helpful to know, however, how case law in the State where the parent resides has dealt with this issue. The only reported decision in Michigan is very old. See Irish v. Irish, 102 Mich App 75 (1980). In Irish, the trial court found that a lesbian relationship was detrimental and prohibited overnight visits of partner during parenting time. But I did find a terrific resource online that gives a good overview of how these cases have been resolved more recently.

Relocation | Parent remarries & moves out-of-state

Today's society is extremely mobile. The economy in Michigan, for example, is forcing some parents to relocate to states where suitable employment is available. In addition, divorced parents are increasingly likely to look at an online dating services for introductions to suitable new mates. Very often, a marriage to someone met on line results in relocation of a parent. What happens if the remarried parent wants to move with the children? Does it matter if that parent has sole legal custody? How about cases where the parents share joint legal and joint physical  custody? What if they share joint legal custody, but the parent wanting to relocate has primary physical custody?    

Parental Kidnapping | Prevention and Response

Family abductions bring into play civil and criminal laws at state, national and international levels. There are several types of parental abduction. Sometimes, a parent may flee with a child temporarily, hoping to gain an advantage in a custody dispute to parents or hoping to find more favorable laws in another state.  [Some states, for example, have mandatory joint custody laws.] Other times, a parent who has lost a child custody battle in one state may cross state or international lines, hoping to find a friendlier court that will modify the custody order. Other times, a parent takes a child intending to permanently deprive the other parent of parental rights. 

Lap babies | Safety for infants on airliners

In this day of economic necessity and parent relocation because of employment out of state, family lawyers are seeing more and more cases of minor children being transported by air to and from parenting time with a non-custodial parent located some distance away. Thus, the New York Times caught my attention today.