By Danelle Hove, Customer Service Clerk, Friend of the Court Bureau
The Covid-19 pandemic brought great shifts to Friend of the Court (FOC) offices across the state. These changes accompanied an influx of new FOC directors and deputy directors, along with new staff to train, budgets to prepare, and increased caseloads. In order to assist our new FOC directors, the FOC offers remote New Director training. The most recent cohort began on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, with weekly sessions being held from 9:00- 10:00 am. If you are interested in joining this training, please email PoetzL@courts.mi.gov.
Friend of the Court Bureau
The Friend of the Court Bureau (FOCB) gathers
and analyzes statistics; reviews laws, regulations, and court rules; and
reviews grievances and responses to provide guidelines for FOC operations. The
FOCB assists FOC offices across the state with management assistance to improve
local office operations. The FOCB also cooperates with the Michigan Department
of Health and Human Service's Office of Child Support to coordinate FOC offices
in providing Title IV-D services. The FOCB website provides information to a
variety of resources that may assist new directors in their job duties such as
links to memoranda, manuals, the Michigan Child Support Formula Calculator, and
more.
Director Steven Capps and the FOCB analysts
are available to answer any questions. The FOCB informational email is focbinfo@courts.mi.gov and the
customer service hotline is 517-373-5975. By contacting the FOCB email or
hotline, one can gather information or materials regarding FOC operations,
court rules, regulations, and more. If you wish to speak to an analyst, feel
free to contact us at this email or phone number and one of us will get right
back to you.
Child Custody and Support
The custody and parenting time investigation
manual is currently being updated and will be available in 2024.
In the meantime, other helpful tools,
resources, and manuals are available on the SCAO website such as the
Custody Guideline Manual; the Best
Practices for Custody, Parenting Time, and Change of Domicile; Guidelines
for Interviewing Children About Custody; and Resources
for Custody, Parenting Time, and ADR FOC Providers.
Child Custody and Support Statutes:
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Joint Custody. |
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Child custody disputes; powers
of court; support order; enforcement of judgment or order; child custody
while parent on deployment. |
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Child custody dispute;
controlling interests, presumption; award of custody to parent convicted of
criminal sexual conduct or acts of nonconsensual sexual penetration;
prohibition; support or maintenance obligation; defense; "offending
parent" defined. |
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Legal residence change of child
whose parental custody governed by court order. |
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Initial child-custody
determination; jurisdiction. |
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Exclusive, continuing
jurisdiction; condition; determination to decline jurisdiction; modification
of child-custody determination. |
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Complaint alleging custody or
parenting time order violation; duties of friend of court; declining to
respond to violation; circumstances; compliance with MCL 552.519. |
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"Best interests of the
child" defined. |
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Special Proceedings and Actions
relating to custody of a minor. |
Michigan Child Support Calculator
To determine a support order,
first, one must determine the overall income, which includes both net income
and potential income. Next, one must figure out what the deductions from the
income are. Third, one must ascertain the obligations to things such as health
care, childcare, and/or dependent benefits. Finally, the last step is for one
to establish if any deviation exists. The requirements for a deviation are
listed in MCL
552.602(2). Furthermore, for the purpose of determining a support order,
MCL 552.602(o) defines what constitutes income. MCL
552.602(o)(i-iii) states that any of the following can be considered an
income:
“(i) Commissions, earnings,
salaries, wages, and other income due or to be due in the future to an
individual from his or her employer or a successor employer.
(ii) A payment due or to be due in
the future to an individual from a profit-sharing plan, a pension plan, an
insurance contract, an annuity, Social Security, unemployment compensation,
supplemental unemployment benefits, or worker's compensation.
(iii) An amount of money that is
due to an individual as a debt of another individual, partnership, association,
or private or public corporation, the United States or a federal agency, this
state or a political subdivision of this state, another state or a political
subdivision of another state, or another legal entity that is indebted to the
individual.”
Grievance Process and Procedures
If
someone is unhappy with the service provided by their local FOC, they have the
right to file a grievance with the FOC. The grievance procedure is a litigant
may file a complaint regarding FOC office procedures or employees. The procedure requires a grievance to first be filed with the
county FOC office. The grievance can be prepared on a Friend of the Court
Grievance form or in a letter that is clearly labeled “grievance” to the FOC
office. The FOC must respond to the grievance within 30 days. A copy of the
grievance response should be mailed to the Friend of the Court Bureau at P.O.
Box 30048, Lansing, MI 48909 or emailed in an encrypted email to PoetzL@courts.mi.gov.
A
person who is not satisfied with the office’s response may file the same
grievance with the chief judge for the circuit court. The chief judge will then
issue a response within 30 days or provide a reason for the delay.
More
information about the grievance procedure, including a copy of the form is
located on the SCAO website.
Other Helpful Resources
Also available on the SCAO website are MJI
Webinars , MJI events , as well as more FOC
and MJI training videos that covers a variety of topics like Child
Welfare Services, Domestic Violence Screening,
Assisting
Parents in Reaching Custody and Parenting Time Agreements,
and more. Additionally, all of the most up-to-date Friend of the Court, SCAO-approved
forms for grievances, IV-D services, support enforcement orders, etc.
are available on the SCAO website.
The new Director
Manual includes information regarding case management, support
determinations, support enforcement, financials, referees, alternative dispute
resolution, and more.
The Michigan
Parenting Time Guidelines provides information
regarding parenting time and creating agreements and schedules for the best
interests of the child.
In addition to the training, other information regarding domestic
violence can be found in the Friend of the Court Domestic
Violence Resource Guide, and the Domestic
Violence Screening Protocol for Mediators of Domestic Relations Conflicts.
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Concluding Remarks
We hope these resources and
materials are helpful in assisting the new FOC directors and other new staff
members. Don’t forget to join Lindsay Poetz for the weekly training sessions
from 9:00 am to 10:00 a.m. to gain more guidance and skills, if you are
interested, please e-mail PoetzL@courts.mi.gov.
Also remember, if you need more information regarding FOC procedures or
policies, feel free to contact the FOCB informational hotline at 517-373-5975
or e-mail us at focbinfo@courts.mi.gov.
Article
by Danelle Hove, Customer Service Clerk and Law Clerk Intern, Friend of
the Court Bureau.
