what do i need to get full custody of my child

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Michigan law divides the concept of custody into 2 parts: physical custody, pregnant who the child lives with, and legal custody, meaning who makes decisions that affect the kid's welfare. If you have chief concrete and legal custody, you might exist said to have "full custody" or "sole custody," although neither of these exact phrases is used in Michigan law. Start by requesting a custody order from the court in the county where the child has lived for at to the lowest degree 6 months. The estimate may make an order independently or refer you to the Friend of the Courtroom office for investigation before making their terminal decision.^[1]

1. one

   Consult an experienced family unit lawyer. Most family police attorneys offer a free initial consultation. Even if you lot ultimately cease upwards deciding to represent yourself, this meeting can help yous sympathize more about the process of filing for custody and issues that may ascend over the course of your lawsuit.^[ii]

   • If you have a depression income and are concerned about your ability to pay for a lawyer, visit the website of the State Bar of Michigan and check out the Modest Means Programme. This program tin assist you observe an attorney to take your example for costless or at a substantially lower rate.
   • You can as well try limited scope representation, where an attorney represents you for only parts of your case, but not all of it. For example, you might hire an attorney to represent you at the hearing but draw upwardly your paperwork yourself.

   Tip: If your kid'due south other parent has hired an attorney, it'due south typically a expert idea to rent your own as well. Otherwise, you might find yourself overwhelmed.

2. 2

   Download forms if you've decided to represent yourself. Michigan courts make forms available online for free. If y'all use these forms, you tin can exist certain that the paperwork yous file with the court will be in an acceptable format.^[three]

   • The Michigan Legal Assistance website has toolkits bachelor at https://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/family/i-demand-custody-guild. These kits include all the forms you'll need along with instructions for filling them out. The toolkit is interactive and creates your forms for you to print and sign based on your answers to questions.
   • You lot may besides be able to find forms on Michigan court websites, or at the clerk'due south function of the nearest canton courtroom. Nevertheless, these will merely be blank forms and may be more difficult to fill out depending on your familiarity with family law and the court organization.

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3. 3

   Fill out the forms to start your case. The toolkit available on the Michigan Legal Assist website includes more than forms than y'all'll need at the start of your instance. To request a custody club from the court, you volition need the post-obit forms:^[4]

   • Summons
   • Complaint for Custody, Parenting Time, and Child Back up
   • Confidential Instance Inventory (not necessary in all cases)
   • Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act Affidavit
   • Verified Statement
   • Application for IV-D Child Support Services

   Tip: Based on your answers to questions about where you lot live and where the child lives (if not with you), the toolkit determines which court needs to hear your case. Typically, this will be the court in the county where you live.

4. 4

   Sign your forms in the presence of a notary. When y'all've finished your forms, have them along with a valid, government-issued photograph ID to a notary public about you.k The notary volition verify your identity and spotter equally y'all sign the documents. They'll then place their seal on the documents.^[5]

   • A notary does not review your forms for accurateness or abyss. If you don't feel confident about your forms, you may desire to have a lawyer wait over them before you sign them.

5. 5

   Brand photocopies of your signed forms. After your forms have been signed and notarized, get photocopies of each of the documents you filled out. In some courts, the clerk will be willing to make copies for y'all, only they'll likely accuse you a fee. Generally, information technology's a better idea to make your copies before y'all get to the clerk's role to file your forms. Expect to need the following number of copies of each form, in addition to the originals:^[half-dozen]

   • Fee Waiver Request (if applicable): 4 copies
   • Summons: 5 copies
   • Complaint for Custody, Parenting Time, and Child Support: 4 copies
   • Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act Affirmation: iv copies
   • Verified Statement: 4 copies
   • Application for Iv-D Child Back up Services: 4 copies

6. 6

   Arrange for payment of the filing fees or apply for a waiver. Filing fees for a custody lawsuit are at least $175, plus another $80 judgment fee due towards the stop of your case, every bit of 2019. Phone call ahead to the clerk's office and discover out the exact amount of fees and what methods of payment are accepted. If you lot can't afford the fees, yous may qualify to get them waived.^[7]

   • Utilize the Michigan Legal Aid cocky-help tool at https://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/going-courtroom/do-it-yourself-fee-waiver to create a fee waiver application y'all can give to the clerk along with your other paperwork.

   Tip: The courtroom volition automatically approve your fee waiver request if you receive income-based public assistance, such every bit TANF or food stamps.

7. 7

   File your forms with the court clerk. Have your original forms and the photocopies you lot made to the clerk's part of the court that will hear your case. You'll likewise need an appropriate method of payment of the filing fee, unless you've filled out a fee waiver request form.^[viii]

   • The clerk will assign a instance number and judge to your example, then file-stamp your originals and copies. They'll return to you all copies that the courtroom doesn't need.

8. 8

   Accept the other parent served with your custody papers. Within 91 days of the date you file your lawsuit, you lot must notify the other parent past sending them i copy of each of the documents you lot filed with the court. If you desire to have the papers delivered in person, you can get a friend or relative over xviii to do it, or you can hire a sheriff'southward deputy or private procedure server.^[9]

   • The server can also mail service the documents using certified mail service with render receipt requested. Delivery must be restricted to the child'southward other parent merely. This method of service only works if the other parent tin can be counted on to take the papers and you have a safe address for the return receipt to exist delivered to.
   • Whoever serves the papers for y'all must fill up out a Proof of Service course and sign it in front of a notary. They'll give this form to you lot to file with the clerk. If they used mail service, y'all take to look until you get the return receipt earlier you tin can file the Proof of Service. Attach the return receipt to the Proof of Service class. Make a re-create for your records earlier you file information technology.
   • The other parent has 28 days to respond to your request for a custody order. If they don't respond, you lot can ask the court for a default order.

9. ix

   Use a Notice of Hearing to schedule your hearing if necessary. Expect most xxx days afterwards you've had the other parent served. In some counties, the clerk will schedule your hearing after giving the other parent time to respond to your lawsuit. In others, you'll have to schedule the hearing yourself.^[10]

   • If you used the Michigan Legal Help toolkit, y'all'll already have a copy of the Notice of Hearing and Motion grade. But fill up in the missing information, such as the case number and the judge's name. Make 2 copies and take those forth with the originals to the clerk's role.
   • Inquire the clerk for some hearing dates and pick the one that works all-time for you. Then fill that information in on the notice form and file the notice with the clerk. Have 1 re-create served on the other parent and keep the other for your records.

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1. 1

   Schedule a Friend of the Court (FOC) meeting. In some counties, the courtroom automatically schedules your FOC coming together if your instance is referred to the FOC office. In other counties, information technology's your responsibleness to schedule your meeting. The court clerk will give you more data.^[11]

   • If you need to schedule your own meeting, use the contact information the clerk provides you lot to schedule your coming together equally presently as possible. If you fail to schedule your meeting within a few weeks, the courtroom may dismiss your lawsuit and and then yous would have to start all over.

   Tip: In some counties the FOC process may be optional, depending on the circumstances of your case. However, even if information technology's optional, the FOC function tin assistance y'all summate child back up and reach an understanding with the other parent at no boosted toll to you, so it's something to consider.

2. 2

   Meet with your evaluator. At your FOC coming together, your evaluator will innovate themselves and explain their role in your case and what the side by side steps will be. They'll probable ask you lot extensive questions about your custody case and your relationship with your child and with the other parent.^[12]

   • Some of these questions may feel intrusive and you may be embarrassed or ashamed to respond. However, it's of import to respond the evaluator's questions as openly and honestly equally you can. This will help your evaluator come up with the best course of activeness in your case.
   • It can be a practiced idea to acknowledge your feelings aloud to the evaluator before answering. For case, if the evaluator has asked you nearly your human relationship with your child'due south other parent and the two of you argued frequently, you might say "I'yard ashamed to admit it, but we fought ofttimes considering he couldn't get his drinking under command." This sort of statement opens up a dialog between yous and the evaluator and lets them know that you're making yourself vulnerable to answer the question.

   Tip: If at any time during the interview you need a moment to take a break and collect yourself, allow the evaluator know. They recognize that custody cases can be traumatic and they'll give yous all the time you lot need.

3. iii

   Participate in a conciliation if required. Some FOC offices use the conciliation process to help you and your child's other parent attain an agreement on issues of custody and child support. If your FOC evaluator recommends conciliation, both you and the other parent need to meet with the evaluator.^[13]

   • If there have been problems with abuse or domestic violence in your history with the other parent, the FOC evaluator may decide that conciliation is not in your child's best interests. If you don't feel comfortable about the conciliation process, let your FOC evaluator know.

4. 4

   Provide documents and records requested by your evaluator. Your evaluator will ask y'all for documents and other material related to your kid's personality and behavior as well as your relationship with your kid and your child's relationship with the other parent. This information helps the evaluator brand a recommendation regarding your example. Specific documents vary depending on the circumstances of your case, but generally fall into the following categories:^[fourteen]

   • The "dwelling house tape:" Information nigh how your kid interacts with their siblings, if in that location are any, what your child does at home, your child'south mental and physical health, and your child's general personality (for example, whether they are outgoing and sociable or quiet and withdrawn)
   • The "school record:" Your kid'due south bookish functioning, including transcripts or written report cards, information almost any disciplinary actions taken at schoolhouse, learning disabilities, or referrals to the school counselor
   • The "customs record:" Any activities, such equally scouting, martial arts, church youth groups, sports, that your child may be involved in

   Tip: The evaluator may ask you and the other parent to sign a release form that allows the evaluator to ask the school and customs groups for information about your kid.

5. 5

   Complete a dwelling house inspection if necessary. In some cases, the courtroom may order (or the FOC part may recommend) a home inspection of your home, the other parent's dwelling, or both. Abode inspections are typically done if one parent alleges that the other'due south living environment is unsafe for the child, or that the child is not beingness cared for adequately.^[xv]

   • Home inspections may exist announced or unannounced. Ask your evaluator. For appear home inspections, you'll typically accept a few days' notice of the date and time of the inspection. For unannounced inspections, the evaluator will evidence up at a reasonable time when you are going to exist at abode.

6. 6

   Read over the evaluator'due south recommendation. Subsequently the evaluator has completed their investigation, they'll produce a study that outlines their recommendations for custody and kid back up in your example. If at that place's anything y'all don't sympathize or disagree with, bring it up with your evaluator.^[16]

   • In nigh cases, the evaluator'southward recommendation becomes a temporary gild, meaning it can be enforced by the courts until a final hearing is held. Both you and the other party must follow the temporary order, even if you disagree with it, at to the lowest degree until the final hearing.

7. 7

   Nourish the referee hearing. A FOC referee is similar to a judge, simply the hearing is less formal than a court custody hearing. The rules of testify and procedure are looser, so you lot typically don't need an chaser to help you. At the hearing, the referee will talk to you and the other parent, review the evaluator's recommendation, and decide whether or not to brand the evaluator'south recommendation permanent.^[17]

   • The problems that referees are allowed to cover in these hearings differ amid counties. Your evaluator will let yous know what will be discussed in the hearing.
   • If all the issues in your case tin't be covered in the referee hearing, you lot'll take to go to a concluding custody hearing before a judge.

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1. ane

   Use the discovery process to prepare for your hearing. Through discovery, you and the other parent get information from each other about your finances, schedules, and anything else that might use to your custody case. Yous tin become this information from each other and from other people. At that place are a few means this happens:^[eighteen]

   • "Interrogatories" are written questions that you (or the other parent) answers in writing. You can serve them on the other parent, and the other parent tin can serve them on yous. Your court may take specific rules that limit the number of interrogatories you tin can enquire.
   • "Requests for Production" ask the other side to make copies of specific documents that are related to the custody and child back up case. For instance, y'all might ask your child's other parent to provide pay stubs for the final twelvemonth so yous tin can calculate their income.
   • "Depositions" are interviews nether oath that are recorded by a courtroom reporter. You tin can depose the other parent, or other people who might be witnesses in your instance, such every bit your child's teachers, coaches, or doctors. The other parent tin depose people as well, and you lot have the right to exist present at those depositions and inquire questions as well. Like interrogatories, these may be limited.

2. 2

   Try arbitration if ordered by the guess. If you oasis't already attempted mediation, the judge may order you to at to the lowest degree endeavor information technology before scheduling your final hearing. The vast majority of custody cases are ultimately agreed upon by the parents and judges adopt that to having to make a ruling that might not make either parent happy.^[19]

   • Don't feel any pressure to reach an agreement during arbitration. Information technology'south only required that you lot make a reasonable effort. The mediator will work with both you and the other parent. If yous can't come to an agreement, the mediator volition effect a report for the courtroom and so y'all tin set your instance for a concluding hearing.
   • If y'all do come to an agreement through mediation, your mediator will write upward that understanding and you lot can nowadays it to the estimate in a brief hearing. The judge may inquire both you and the other parent questions almost the agreement to make certain yous both understand it, but they volition typically sign off on it. If y'all and the other parent came to an agreement, it is legally presumed to be in the kid's best interests.

3. 3

   Amendment witnesses if necessary. If y'all want to phone call whatsoever witnesses to support your argument that you should go legal and concrete custody of your child, become a subpoena from the clerk'due south role. Fill out the form with the witness'southward name and address, then have it served on the witness.^[20]

   • For example, you may want your child's instructor to come and bear witness that when they are at the other parent'due south business firm, they frequently have subject field issues at schoolhouse.
   • In some situations, you may too want experts, such as child psychiatrists or doctors, to testify about your child'south mental or physical health.

   Tip: You don't necessarily need a subpoena if the witness agrees to testify voluntarily. Still, fifty-fifty then, a subpoena may assistance the witness go out of work or school more easily.

4. 4

   Organize your documents and evidence for the hearing. Using your original petition as a guide, create an outline of the case you want to present to the gauge. And so, arrange your documents and other evidence in that order, so yous won't take to shuffle around looking for anything. Make at least 2 photocopies of every document you lot intend to introduce equally testify, so you, the gauge, and the other parent can each have i to look at.^[21]

   • If you're presenting your ain case, you lot'll be giving an opening and closing statement. Although you can waive these if you prefer, they can be helpful in giving the judge the big picture of the argument yous desire to present. Make notes and practice these statements several times before the hearing.

   Tip: If you lot don't experience comfortable speaking in an open courtroom or questioning witnesses, you might consider hiring an attorney for limited scope representation. They will speak for you lot at the hearing using the materials and testify yous've already gathered.

5. 5

   Go to court on the date of your hearing. Arrive at the courthouse at least a half-hour before the time of your hearing. Dress similar you would if you were going to a job interview or a religious service. After you pass through security, get to the clerk's function. Tell them you're there for your hearing and give them the name of your case. They'll tell yous which court to become to.^[22]

   • In the courtroom, take a seat in the gallery and wait for your case to be chosen. When your case is chosen, stand and tell the approximate that you're set up to go along. Move forward to the tables at the front end of the courtroom when the judge tells you to.

   Tip: If you lot've never been to a courtroom hearing earlier, you might desire to go notice a hearing or two in the same courtroom before yours. They will help y'all become more familiar with the gauge, court rules, and the full general flow of a hearing.

6. 6

   Nowadays your instance to the judge. If you filed the original petition, the approximate will hear from yous first. Address your opening statement to the estimate — try to avoid even looking at the other parent as you lot speak. Utilise a loud, clear vox so the guess tin hear and sympathize you.^[23]

   • If you lot accept witnesses to telephone call, they may too be nowadays in the courtroom. If they were asked to wait exterior, the bailiff will get them. Only tell the estimate who you desire to call to the stand. When you question witnesses, speak only to them. Give them time to answer before request another question — don't interrupt them.
   • The approximate may want to enquire your witnesses questions as well. If the gauge starts speaking, stop until the estimate says that you may go along.

7. 7

   Mind carefully to the other parent'south arguments. Once you lot've finished presenting your case, the other parent has an opportunity to nowadays their prove and tell their side of the story. Don't interrupt or shout out in the courtroom. If they say something you lot disagree with or know to be faux, make a notation of it and then you can counter it subsequently. The gauge will likely give you lot another opportunity to speak. You'll likewise have your closing argument to brand, when you tin can mention anything wrong the other parent said.^[24]

   • If the other parent calls any witnesses, you will as well get the chance to inquire them questions. Have notes while they're on the stand of anything that you want to enquire them virtually.

8. eight

   Take notes on the judge's order. After hearing from both you and the other parent, the judge will make their decision on your case. They may give you lot exactly what y'all asked for in your petition. Even so, it's more likely that they will come upward with something that is more of a compromise.^[25]

   • If you filed the original petition, you will exist responsible for drafting the judge'southward society. If you used the Michigan Legal Assist toolkit, you may already have a draft order based on your own petition. However, if the judge's order from the bench is different, you lot'll need to change your order to conform to the judge'due south ruling.

   Tip: If you didn't get everything or want to double-check your notes, talk to the court reporter. They can read dorsum the portion of the transcript when the gauge issued their ruling.

9. ix

   Typhoon an social club for the gauge to sign. If the judge granted you everything you asked for in your petition, y'all may already take an society prepare. Otherwise, use your notes from the hearing to create an gild that follows the guess's ruling.^[26]

   • Some judges will go their staff to write up the order if y'all are representing yourself.
   • Telephone call the clerk'southward role to find out how to submit the order for the approximate to sign. Typically, yous can but requite information technology to the clerk and they will frontwards it to the approximate. Every bit a party to a instance, you can't go see the judge on your own and accept them the order. It has to be done through court staff.

10. 10

    File the signed order with the clerk. Even after the judge has signed your order, information technology is not considered final until information technology is entered into the court records by the clerk. Inquire the clerk for 2 certified copies of the order. I is for your records, the other must be delivered to the other parent.^[27]

    • The other parent has the power to appeal the guild if they disagree with information technology. You lot tin also appeal the order if the judge didn't grant everything you were asking for. Even so, the order becomes final after 30 days and cannot be appealed. If you're thinking about appealing the guild, talk to an attorney every bit soon equally possible.

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• Nether Michigan police, you can't file a custody instance if you aren't married to the child'due south other parent unless you lot've established paternity.^[28]

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