Domicile Attorneys Located In Birmingham

We represent clients in 9 counties: Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, Washtenaw, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Lapeer and St. Clair.

Serving Clients in Southeast Michigan

Domicile is another term for residence.

Most judgments and orders involving children contain provisions that state that a party must obtain the court’s approval before they can move the child out of state or more than 100 miles from the child’s legal residence at the time of the commencement of the action in which the order is issued. Court approval can be obtained by stipulation and agreement between the parties or by order of the court after a hearing on the issue.

We Can’t Agree. What Do I Do?

If the parties cannot mutually agree on a change of domicile, then a motion for change of domicile must be filed with the court.

Thorough preparation for a change in domicile motion and hearing is vital for success.

What Factors Are Considered By the Court?

At the hearing the court must consider each of the following factors:

• Whether the legal residence change has the capacity to improve the quality of life for both the child and the relocating parent;
• The degree to which each parent has complied with, and utilized his or her parenting time under, a court order governing parenting time with the child, and whether the parent’s plan to change the child’s legal residence is inspired by that parent’s desire to defeat or frustrate the parenting time schedule;
• The degree to which the court is satisfied that, if the court permits the legal residence change, it is possible to order a modification of the parenting time schedule and other arrangements governing the child’s schedule in a manner that can provide an adequate basis for preserving and fostering the parental relationship between the child and each parent; and whether each parent is likely to comply with the modification;
• The extent to which the parent opposing the legal residence change is motivated by a desire to secure a financial advantage with respect to a support obligation; and
• Domestic violence, regardless of whether the violence was directed against or witnessed by the child.