PUBLISHED OPINIONS
Child Custody – Considerations On Remand
In lieu of granting leave to appeal, the Michigan Supreme Court vacated in part Butters v Butters, ___ Mich App ___ (2022), because while “[t]he Court of Appeals correctly explained that, on remand, the trial court should consider up-to-date information, including the children’s current and reasonable preferences when determining whether a modification of the previous custody order is warranted,” it “erred by instructing the [circuit court] on remand to apply the best-interest factors under the clear-and-convincing evidence standard without regard to any changed circumstances that might have occurred during the pendency of th[e] appeal.” Butters v Butters, ___ Mich ___, ___ (2022) (quotation marks and citations omitted). “When nonharmless errors occur in child custody cases that necessitate a remand to the circuit court for reevaluation, those courts should address the circumstances of the child as they exist at the time of remand.” Id. at ___ (directing the circuit court on remand “to reevaluate the children’s established custodial environments based upon up-to-date information in existence at the time of the evidentiary hearing”).
