Rochester Hills Child Custody Lawyer

Professional and Reliable Legal Representation

Family legal issues like child custody and child support are important matters that require an experienced and professional eye. Our family law lawyers at Little & Boylan PLLC will put our breadth of knowledge and experience in the legal field to represent our clients serving Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Child Custody and Visitation Laws in Rochester Hills

Michigan presumes it is in the best interests of children to maintain a close relationship with both parents, so if both parents agree on joint custody, the court must order it unless it would not be in the children's best interests.

Joint legal custody allows both parents to share the decision-making authority over such things as their children's education, medical treatment, religious training, or enrichment activities. Parents with joint physical custody also share the time they spend with their children. Note that the court can also award only one parent physical custody of the child, in which the court will create a parenting time (visitation) schedule for the other parent.

Under Michigan law, children have a right to parenting time with the non-custodial parent unless the other parent demonstrates, by clear and convincing evidence, that visitation would endanger the child's physical, mental, or emotional health.

Parents may draft their own visitation n schedule, but if they cannot agree, the judge in Rochester Hills will create one for them. A typical arrangement is for the noncustodial parent to have the children on alternate weekends, alternate holidays, and some of the children's school vacations.

When creating a parenting time agreement, the judge in Rochester Hills, Michigan will consider all the following factors:

• whether the child has special needs;
• if the child is less than 6 months old, or if less than 1 year, whether the child is still nursing;
• the reasonable likelihood of abuse or neglect during parenting time;
• whether there is a chance the non-custodial parent will abuse the other parent during the parenting time exchanges;
• the inconvenience to, and impact on, the child for traveling for parenting time;
• whether the court believes the non-custodial parent will exercise parenting time according to the order;
• whether the non-custodial parent has frequently failed to exercise parenting time;
• the threatened or actual detention of a child with the intent to retain or conceal the child from the other parent during parenting time;
• any other relevant factors.

Note that a key factor in every custody case is the children's best interest. The Michigan Child Custody Act establishes that the court must consider the following when considering the children's best interests:

• the love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between each parent and the child;
• each parent's ability and willingness to give the child love, affection, and guidance, and to continue the education and raising of the child in religion or creed (if any);
• the ability and willingness of each parent to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care, and other material needs;
• how long the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment and the desirability of maintaining continuity;
• the permanence of the family unit of the existing or proposed custodial home or homes;
• each parent's moral fitness;
• the parent's and the child's mental and physical health;
• the child's home, school, and community record;
• the child's reasonable preference;
• each parent's willingness and ability to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing relationship between the child and the other parent or the child and the parents;
• domestic violence, regardless of whether the violence was directed against or witnessed by the child; and
• any other relevant factors.