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Updates in Michigan Family Law

Updates in Michigan Family Law is a blawg written by Traverse City, Michigan family lawyer Jeanne M. Hannah. Jeanne explores developing Michigan law, and also the following topics of interest: divorce, custody, child support, paternity, domestic abuse, and adoption issues.\r\n\r\n

Post Frequency: 4.5/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 12:07:04

Hospital visitation rights extended to gay & lesbian couples

Posted on April 16, 2010
The Washington Post reports that President Obama mandated Thursday (April 15th) that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.

Fatal Distraction | Infant left alone in hot car

Posted on April 13, 2010
The Washington Post yesterday won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for a story about several parents who made a horrible mistake. They drove to work. They parked their cars. They did not remember that they had not dropped their infant off at the day-care...

Rethinking children as property

Posted on April 09, 2010
Every now and then I am reminded the our legal system tends to treat children as property. Parents have constitutional rights to be protected and children often have no rights at all in decisions made by judges who are virtual strangers to the family...

Digital world creates opportunity to air dirty laundry in public

Posted on April 09, 2010
Where is it going to end? We've looked at the Facebook and MySpace paux pas. We've considered other digital issues. Now it's the eBlast. Using special online resources, it is possible to create an email that can be sent to about 150 people per eBlast...

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IVF, Designer babies & Single mothers by choice

Posted on April 06, 2010
In another aspect of designer babies, recent research shows that married couples, where the wife is infertile and their family is built through IVF with purchased eggs, are often opting to select for specific traits in the egg donors. "A market in lucrative traits is developing...

Pre-Nups | Tiger Woods case sparks interest

Posted on April 05, 2010
Postnup A recent article sparked by Tiger Woods' marital problems discusses the importance of prenuptial agreements today. "The prenup seems so utterly unromantic ? or just plain wrong ? but it's also become so right for so many these days: those keenly aware that a marriage may end up in a legal separation, divorce or death...

Pre-Nups | Tiger Woods case sparks interest

Posted on April 05, 2010
A recent article sparked by Tiger Woods' marital problems discusses the importance of prenuptial agreements today. "The prenup seems so utterly unromantic ? or just plain wrong ? but it's also become so right for so many these days: those keenly aware that a marriage may end up in a legal separation, divorce or death...

Grandparenting time controversy in the Sean Goldman case

Posted on April 05, 2010
On April 5th, the Associated Press reported that Sean Goldman's Brazilian grandmother has filed a court action seeking to have visitation with Sean. Apparently she and her husband have been in New Jersey since last month and arrived with hopes of visiting 9-year-old Sean Goldman...

Divorce in Michigan | Economy affects lawyers & litigants

Posted on April 04, 2010
An article by Catherine Jun published in the The Detroit News in March 2010 should be of interest to all --not just divorcing couples who are trying to save money by handling their divorces on their own, but also by attorneys who are seeing a decrease in client base...

ID | Locate cell phone

Posted on April 01, 2010
I have to tell you. This is too scary. Cell Phone Snoop. Cell phone locator? Buy the name / ID? [Click image for enlargement] Yup. That's my phone. There is no hiding . . . See http://www.cellphonesnoop.com/ [Click image for...

Free online calculator | Multi-function

Posted on April 01, 2010
Calc Here's a link to an online calculator -- free, and nothing to download. There are many useful functions:

Second mortgages complicate property settlements

Posted on March 29, 2010
Divorce and property settlements are so much more difficult to negotiate in these troubled financial times. Many married couples have real estate that is "under water" (worth less than the indebtedness), or in foreclosure, or have not just a mortgage but also a home equity loan or two.

Droid v iPhone - A lawyer's & consumer's choice

Posted on March 28, 2010
What did we ever do before cell phones? Nowadays, they are almost an extension of our hands. I have a new Blackberry something . . . still sitting in the box it arrived in 3 or 4 months ago. I guess I am not motivated as much as my more techie family lawyer friends...

How many parents may a baby one day have?

Posted on March 26, 2010
The New York Times published an Op-Ed piece near the end of January that's been sitting in my to-do pile. The issue raised is whether a baby can have three (or more) biological parents. Non-traditional families are more prevalent today than ever before...

Qualifying event | Health care coverage

Posted on March 18, 2010
Ins In today's economy, especially with health care insurers under high scrutiny, family law practitioners and families in transition need to be very clear about what is a "qualifying event" that may cause rescission of health care insurance in the future and also, perhaps, efforts by the insurer to recoup payments made for past medical treatments...

Calculate parenting time overnights

Posted on March 16, 2010
When setting out a parenting time plan, the number of overnights needs to be considered because of the impact on child support, if minimizing child support is important to one parent, or maximizing child support is important. Moreover, setting out a specific parenting time schedule has the advantage of giving the non-custodial parent a parenting time plan that the court can enforce...

Child support | Termination of parental rights doesn't end obligation

Posted on March 14, 2010
In a case for publication, In Re Beck, decided March 4, 2010, the Michigan court of appeals held that the termination of parental rights arising out of a neglect or abuse case does not end a parent's obligation to pay...

Child support | Termination of parental rights doesn't end obligation

Posted on March 13, 2010
In a case for publication, In Re Beck, decided March 4, 2010, the Michigan court of appeals held that the termination of parental rights arising out of a neglect or abuse case does not end a parent's obligation to pay child support.

Tricks to keep your devices going and going

Posted on March 12, 2010
Eric Taub of the New York Times wrote an article yesterday with many good tips about saving batteries on such devices as smartphones and laptops. It's worth reading.

$19 million in divorce attorney fees . . . and counting?

Posted on March 11, 2010
Good grief! A divorce with $19 million dollars in attorney fees? According to the LA Times, the divorce between the Dodgers' owner Frank McCourt has already cost that much and the parties haven't even had a trial yet!

When choice of schools impacts custody

Posted on March 10, 2010
Family law attorneys are seeing more cases recently having to do with parents' disagreements about which school or school district is appropriate for the parties' children. Parents who have joint legal custody of a child must agree upon important decisions that affect the child?s welfare...

How protective is an order of protection? The short answer is: It depends.

Posted on February 27, 2010
How protective is an order of protection? The short answer is: It depends. "A personal protection order is merely a piece of paper," I explain to my clients. To be really safe, you need to take extra precautions.

How protective is an order of protection? The short answer is: It depends.

"Disappearing Ink" a/k/a "TigerText" a/k/a "Your cheating heart"

Posted on February 26, 2010
Time Magazine (at Time.com) wrote today: "Tiger Woods, if you're reading this, remember that you've been through what mothers call a 'valuable learning experience' and you're probably a 'better man for i'" and so on. Having said that, an iPhone app that launched on Feb...

Kidnapped boy home with his father

Posted on February 23, 2010
Finally, little Ricky Chekevdia, the child in Illinois whose mother kidnapped him and hid him in a secret room that was 12 feet long, five feet wide and three feet high to prevent his father from finding him and exercising parenting time with him, is going to live with his father on a permanent basis...

Grandparent visitation | To be or not to be?

Posted on February 18, 2010
Sam Hasler, a family law lawyer in Indiana notes that the Indiana legislature has pending legislation that would add great-grandparents to the existing grandparent visitation statute. I have some major criticisms of this proposed legislation. I'm glad that the Michigan legislature has protected Michigan families from intrusion, although I propose that the greater burden of proof discussed here is required for Michigan's law to be constitutional.

Women and children | Report about increased health concerns

Posted on February 18, 2010
My readers know that children's health is a major concern with me, as is teen pregnancy and maternal health. The following Comment, published in Journal Watch, raises major concerns about the increasing birth rates, increasing infant mortality, increasing teen pregnancy and increasing incidence of cesarean section for women.

Marital infidelity | The fallout after a spouse has an extra-marital affair

Posted on February 12, 2010
High profile cases of extra marital affairs make the news. [E'gads, just look at the covers of those tabloids when checking out at the grocery store.] However, most family lawyers aren't dealing with celebrities. The pain suffered by the spouse who has been cheated on can be very real and very devastating...

Palindrome - From AARP for all generations

Posted on February 12, 2010
A palindrome is a word that may be spelled the same backwards and forwards. My last name "Hannah" is a good example. AARP has published a palindrome on YouTube that is a little different. It is named "Lost Generation" and begins with with sentences written on a blackboard, read aloud by a teenager.

Lancet retracts position that MMR vaccinations are a cause of autism

Posted on February 03, 2010
The Lancet has "fully" retracted a paper it published in 1998 that suggested a link between measles-mumps-rubella vaccination and the subsequent development of autism.

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