Children of married couples are typically the focus of custody disputes. What about the minor children of unmarried parents? Who has legal custody of a child when the parents aren’t married? In Michigan, custody refers to both a child’s place of living and the parent’s decision-making authority.
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If a parent has legal custody, they are responsible for making choices about the child’s upbringing, including their health care and educational opportunities. A child has a place to live with each parent, and each parent has bodily custody when the child is there, unless the court decides otherwise. Parents typically share custody when married parents are involved.
The Truth About Being a Parent in Michigan
If we are to dig deeper into child custody and the parent’s, shouldn’t we be asking first who is considered a parent in the context of child custody in Michigan?
Both biological and adoptive parents are seen as having legal parental responsibility and authority over their children.
However, in most cases, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members do not have parental rights. They might have parental rights, though, if they have been given legal guardianship of the minor child or if they have legally adopted the child. Despite not being parents, legal guardians frequently have obligations and rights that are similar to parental rights.
The significance of being defined as a parent lies in the capacity to invoke parental rights. Parents have a fundamental legal right to the upbringing and company of their children. The term “parental rights” often refers to a parent’s ability to make choices for their child’s upbringing, including significant issues like education and healthcare.
In the US, remarriage or recoupling occurs in more than 50% of families. Therefore, 10 to 20 percent of kids in the US have at least one stepparent. For many stepparents, the validity of stepparent rights in shared custody arrangements is a difficult issue. It will be simpler for you to manage your connection with the child and the child’s biological parents if you are aware of your custodial rights as a stepparent.
Parental rights may also involve issues like visitation and custody when parents are living apart, such as in separation or divorce proceedings. Making judgments and acting in the child’s best interests are a part of parental rights.
Do step-parents have parental rights? Can they get custody of their step-child? The answer largely relies on your state of residence and the specifics of your family’s condition. If a stepparent legally adopted the child, they are probably entitled to parental rights.
Your state’s laws governing stepparents’ rights will determine how things work. In spite of the fact that they are not the child’s legal parents, some states may have laws that offer stepparents some privileges such as visitation. If you find yourself in this predicament, you might wish to see a local attorney who is knowledgeable with the laws governing step-parents’ parental rights in your state.
When a person marries a kid’s biological parent, they do not instantly acquire or share that parent’s parental rights in the child. Although divorce might end a marriage, it does not revoke the parents’ legal capacity to raise a child. The parents continue to share joint physical and legal custody.
Stepparents may influence minor children and help the biological parent with their responsibilities, but they do not automatically acquire any rights or obligations as a result of a marriage. Stepparents are essentially “legal strangers” to the children of the biological parent.
According to Michigan law, a parent or guardian of a minor child may designate another person as the temporary beneficiary of a power of attorney that transfers parental responsibility.
The Truth About Child Custody in Michigan
Different custody plans can be imposed by judges. As long as judges agree that the agreement is in the child’s best interests, parents can agree on a custody arrangement, and judges will typically sign the court order authorizing the arrangement. The descriptions of several custody plans are provided below.
Sole Custody
The term “sole custody” is not defined by law. According to the Michigan Custody Guideline, one parent has sole custody when they are granted both primary physical custody and main legal custody.
A parent has physical custody when they take care of their child most of the time. Legal custody is when one parent is in charge of making all significant choices for the child’s upbringing (such as medical treatment, school enrollment, religious instruction, and participation in extracurricular activities).
Sole custody is typically granted to one parent if the judge feels the parents cannot cooperate for the sake of the kid. The court may decide to grant parenting time to the other parent. When parenting time is granted, the non-custodial parent is in charge of making daily and urgent decisions for the child.
Joint Custody
The court must think about granting joint custody when one parent asks for it. A court must provide joint custody if the parents agree to it unless it finds that joint custody is not in the child’s best interests. Judges must give explanations for their decisions, whether they approve or reject the request, in the official record.
Without a parent’s request, judges may take joint custody into consideration. When deciding on joint custody, judges must also take into account whether the parents will be able to work together and generally agree on significant issues affecting the welfare of the kid. The definition of “joint custody” in the law allows for either joint legal custody, joint physical custody, or a combination of both.
There are two varieties of joint custody:
Joint Legal Custody
Parents who share joint legal custody are able to make decisions that have a significant impact on the wellbeing of the kid. The quantity of time spent with each parent by the child does not affect joint custody.
Joint Physical Custody
Means that the child will spend set amounts of time with each parent; however, it does not imply they will necessarily share parental decision-making responsibility unless the court has also granted joint legal custody. For instance, in a joint physical custody arrangement, one parent may have custody during the school year, alternate weekends, and alternate holidays, while the other would have custody during the summer, alternate weekends, and alternate holidays.
The court order will often specify when the child will live with each parent if the judge grants shared physical custody. To ensure the kid has contact with both parents, the court order may stipulate physical custody be divided between the parents. When a child lives with one parent, that parent makes all regular and urgent decisions involving the child.
Married, Unmarried Does It Matter In Child Custody
So who has legal custody of a child when the parents aren’t married? In Michigan, unless the biological father proves paternity and obtains a court order of custody rights, unmarried mothers are believed to have primary custody of their children. By signing an Affidavit of Parentage, either at the hospital where the child is born or subsequently, unmarried fathers can voluntarily establish paternity with the mother’s consent.
If paternity is disputed, a father can legally prove parentage, which usually entails genetic testing to demonstrate the existence of a biological connection.
A father will need to pursue a new parenting agreement through extra legal action after proving paternity. But keep in mind that if the mother of the kid is married to another man, that man will already be assumed to be the child’s legal father, making it exceedingly difficult for a biological father to prove paternity and obtain custody rights.
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Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.