Our Greatest Advancement in 2020: Being Human

By Tony McDowell, Deputy Friend of the Court, 7th Circuit Court (Genesee County)

Looking back at how courts have changed in 2020, it is easy to see the technological changes.  Courts have surged forward with amazing advancements.  It wasn’t long ago that ‘zoom’ was something your camera did, and being “in a waiting room” meant you were going to have to sit on an uncomfortable chair while looking at an old Sports Illustrated.  Now, for those of us in Michigan courts, Zoom video conferencing is how we do much of our work, and we have all gotten used to the virtual waiting room.  COVID-19 forced all of us working in the judiciary to evolve and become more comfortable with Zoom and many other remote work technologies.  Although for most of us Zoom is simply a computer program we are now required to use to conduct hearings and meetings, for some of us Zoom has become so much more.  It has become how we connect to each other and to those we serve.

Friends of the Court Remind Staff They Are Valued and Missed

Interview with Suzanne Hollyer, Director, Oakland County Friend of the Court; and Lynn Bullard, Director, Van Buren County Friend of the Court and 36th Circuit Court Family Division Administrator

The negative effects of isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic are no secret.  With most hearings moving to Zoom and support staff spread throughout the state in their home offices, court staff members are not immune to feeling alone and isolated during this time.  The “Connections” team asked two Friend of the Court (FOC) Directors to share some of their ideas for letting staff know not only that their work is valued, but also that they are missed.  Lynn Bullard is FOC Director and Circuit Court Administrator in Van Buren County, and past president of the Friend of the Court Association.  Suzanne Hollyer is FOC Director in Oakland County, and she currently serves as President of the Friend of the Court Association.

Friend of the Court: 'Born of Compassion' 100 Years Ago

By Steven Capps, Director, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

[ED NOTE: The following is excerpted from Steve Capps’ speech commemorating the friend of the court 100th anniversary at the Friend of the Court Association’s summer conference in Muskegon on July 24, 2019.]

Wayne County Friend of the Court's Outreach Within Reach

By Erin Lincoln, Interim Wayne County Friend of the Court Director and 3rd Circuit Court Deputy Court Administrator

Imagine navigating a 30-mile route from your home to your county’s friend of the court (FOC) office simply to get your child support questions answered.  Could you do so using public transportation?  Even with your own vehicle, would you have the money to pay $20 for parking?  Do you know which items you can bring into the courthouse?  Do you know whether you will be arrested when you appear at the FOC to have a question answered?  These are uncertainties and fears that many clients of the Wayne County FOC face when seeking answers to their child support questions.

Ingham FOC Collaborates with City of Lansing to Help Incarcerated Parents 'Avoid Common Pitfalls'

By Harry Moxley, Director, Ingham County Friend of the Court

In 2016 the Capital Region Community Foundation awarded a grant to the City of Lansing’s Office of Financial Empowerment for a pilot project called, “In Reach.”[1]  The project’s goal was to assist individuals either entering or leaving incarceration to facilitate successful reentry into society upon release.  The Office of Financial Empowerment found three major financial problems facing individuals released from prison: child support accrued during incarceration resulting in unmanageable debt; identity theft; and loss of bank accounts.

Gaining 'Control' Over the Struggles of Parental Separation

By Carol Montavon Bealor, Director, Cass County Friend of the Court and

Court Administrator for Cass County Circuit, Family, and Probate Courts

Less than 50 percent of children in the United States have biological parents who live together and are married.[1]  The percentage of children living in a single parent household nearly tripled from 1960 to 2014.  What our country’s families look like today is much different than what they looked like when I was a child in the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

Justice on a Planet with No Atmosphere

By Steve Capps, Director, Friend of the Court Bureau

Imagine you are on a planet with no atmosphere.  Much like our moon, there may be great mountains, stunning vistas, sweeping plains, and more beauty than you could ever imagine.  But with no atmosphere, your experience can never be complete because you are shielded by a spacesuit. 

St. Clair County Friend of the Court Offers a Class to Fill in the Gaps for its Customers

By Renae Topolewski, St. Clair County Friend of the Court

Let’s face it: the friend of the court is not a place where one would ideally choose to spend their time.  It gets a bad name from the public and those it serves.  Most of us know of someone who has gone through the FOC and have heard complaints made about their local office.  The truth is, however, the friend of the court gets a bad name because it’s dealing with frustrated parents placed into a mandated process when dealing with matters of the utmost importance to them: their children and their finances.  While some things cannot be changed, we can improve the customer’s frustration level with the process.  Generally, the public’s perception of the FOC is that it is not customer-friendly and it is difficult to get anything accomplished from a customer service standpoint.

C03's Pre-Judgment Pilot Program

By John Frasik, Director of Family Assessment, Mediation, and Education

On May 12, 2016, the 3rd Circuit Court launched its Pre-Judgment Pilot Program.  A committee led by Judge Kathleen McCarthy, Presiding Judge of the Family Division, developed the program to determine whether conference-style meetings that actively involve parents, legal counsel, and an assigned judicial team including the referee, mental health clinician, and support specialist will result in more positive outcomes for families and reduce recurring litigation.  The team approach allows the parties to build a relationship of trust with each other and the friend of the court. 

The team is working with Oakland University on a formal research project that will track the cases over a two-year period to compare the level of litigation on pilot program cases with traditionally litigated pre-judgment cases.  In addition to tracking the success of conference-style meetings versus traditional litigation, the pilot program streamlines the traditional process used by the Wayne County Friend of the Court to handle pre-judgment motion filings. 

Traditionally, when pre-judgment motions involving custody or parenting time without child support are filed, the assigned referee conducts a hearing and issues a recommendation addressing the non-child support issues.  When a pre-judgment motion/objection is filed requesting child support, a referee hearing is scheduled on the court’s expedited docket.  The parties first meet with a domestic relations referee who discusses child support and other issues such as custody and parenting time.  Ultimately, the domestic relations referee makes a temporary recommendation addressing custody, child support, and parenting time.  The parties may accept or reject the recommendation.  If either party objects to any of the issues addressed in the friend of the court recommendation, they appear before a referee who hears arguments on the record and ultimately issues a recommendation within 21 days.  Parties must file any objection within 21 days of the date the recommendation was mailed to them. 

Because the referee, mental health expert, and support specialist are present during the conference, regardless of the relief requested in the parties’ motion, the parties will address custody, child support, and parenting time issues pursuant to MCL 722.24(1), as well as any other issues.  The pilot program is set up to be much less intimidating for litigants, especially those who are not represented, with all participants sitting together at the table.  Parties are scheduled for a pilot-program conference in a dedicated time slot and do not have the stress of competing with other cases or “airing their dirty laundry” in open court.  They are also given the contact information for their team.

20th Circuit Court -- Ottawa County -- Committed to Helping Parents Stay Employed to Pay Child Support

Posted by State Court Administrative Office on Aug 15, 2016 1:41:02 PM

By SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau Interns

Paying child support can often be a frustrating and difficult undertaking, particularly when the parent who is required to pay encounters financial difficulty. Some of those parents might even feel like they are being negatively judged and told, “Get a job, you lazy bum!”

Although the Child Support Program strives to treat all parties with respect at every step of the child support process, this is the impression that some payers take away from an order to show cause for failure to pay child support. Parties may petition for a modification of the support order, but

ADR Developments in Collaborative Law, Parenting Coordination, and Child Protection Mediation

Posted by State Court Administrative Office on Aug 15, 2016 1:28:34 PM
By Doug Van Epps, Director, Office of Dispute Resolution

Three new initiatives signal increased interest in expanding the array of ADR options available to parties for resolving their conflicts in domestic relations and child protection cases, two of which are prompted by recently enacted legislation.

First, the Collaborative Law Rules Committee has been convened to provide recommendations to the Michigan Supreme Court for adopting a new court rule to guide the development of collaborative law in Michigan.