Over 100 Years of Combined Experience Guiding Michigan Parents
Whether you’re married or unmarried, child custody and parenting time can be some of the most difficult family law issues to resolve. Our child custody lawyers serving Oakland County help parents address initial custody orders, disagreements about existing orders, and questions involving legal custody, physical custody, and parenting time.
At The Law Firm of Victoria, P.C., we have represented and counseled over 15,000 people during the past 25 years. We represent clients in 9 counties: Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, Washtenaw, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Lapeer, and St. Clair.
Clients in Oakland County and across Michigan choose our firm because of:
Over 100 Years of Combined Legal Experience: Our attorneys bring that experience to Michigan family law matters.
Client Education: We offer free, weekly, confidential seminars to help you understand your rights and responsibilities under Michigan law.
Guidance From Consultation Through Court: We explain the decisions involved in a custody or parenting-time matter throughout negotiation or court proceedings.
Oakland County Service: Based in Birmingham, we serve parents throughout Oakland County.
We work with parents to pursue custody and parenting-time orders that reflect their children’s best interests.
Understanding Your Custody & Parenting-Time Options
Parents may need legal guidance while divorcing or separating, establishing an initial order as unmarried parents, or responding to a disagreement about an existing order. We help you identify the precise issue before deciding how to proceed, whether it involves decision-making authority, the child’s living arrangements, a parenting-time schedule, enforcement, relocation, modification, or safety.
Our team can help you understand:
The differences among legal custody, physical custody, and parenting time
Your parental rights and responsibilities under Michigan law
The best-interests factors a court considers in a custody case
The terms needed in a detailed parenting plan
The process for modifying or enforcing an existing order
The issues raised by relocation or immediate safety concerns
Legal Custody & Parental Decision-Making
Legal custody can be sole or joint and gives one or both parents the right to make decisions for the child regarding education, health care, religion, and the child’s general welfare.
Parents may reach a custody agreement on their own or with their attorneys’ assistance. Decision-making provisions may also explain how parents will communicate, exchange important information, and handle future disagreements.
If the parties can’t agree, the court will make a decision under Michigan law based on the best interests of the child. Any agreement the parents reach must also satisfy applicable legal requirements before it becomes part of a court order.
Physical Custody & Parenting-Time Schedules
Physical custody defines where the child lives on a day-to-day basis and is a separate issue from legal custody. Parenting time addresses when the child spends time with each parent.
The specific times a child spends with each parent are usually set forth in a parenting-time schedule. Our attorneys negotiate proposed arrangements and represent parents in court when an agreement can’t be reached.
A detailed parenting plan may address weekdays, weekends, overnights, holidays, school breaks, vacations, transportation, exchanges, communication, and special occasions. The appropriate terms depend on the child’s needs, school obligations, the distance between homes, each parent’s circumstances, and the level of cooperation possible.
How Oakland County Courts Determine Custody & Parenting Time
The courts weigh the following factors when determining what is in the child’s best interest:
The love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between the parties involved and the child;
The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to give the child love, affection, and guidance and to continue the education and raising of the child in his or her religion or creed, if any;
The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care, or other remedial care recognized and permitted under the laws of this state in place of medical care, and other material needs;
The length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment, and the desirability of maintaining continuity;
The permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed custodial home or homes;
The moral fitness of the parties involved;
The mental and physical health of the parties involved;
The home, school, and community record of the child;
The reasonable preference of the child, if the court considers the child to be of sufficient age to express preference;
The willingness and ability of each of the parties to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent or the child and the parents;
Domestic violence, regardless of whether the violence was directed against or witnessed by the child; and
Any other factor considered by the court to be relevant to a child custody dispute.
The best-interests analysis is fact-specific. It doesn’t automatically require a particular custody arrangement or percentage of parenting time. Depending on the dispute, relevant evidence may include school records, medical information, calendars, communications, witness information, and documentation of parenting-time exchanges.
Child Custody Representation from Preparation Through Court
Our custody attorneys serving Oakland County help parents identify the relief they’re requesting and organize the facts relevant to that request. We provide legal advice on custody matters, explain parental rights, negotiate parenting-time schedules, and represent clients in court proceedings.
Our representation may include:
Reviewing current custody and parenting-time orders
Identifying the legal and practical issues in dispute
Organizing documents and other relevant evidence
Preparing proposed parenting-plan terms
Negotiating schedules and decision-making provisions
Presenting a parent’s position when court involvement is required
A proposed order should be specific enough to explain regular schedules, holidays, exchanges, transportation, communication, and other recurring responsibilities. Clear terms can also be important when a parent later asks the court to enforce or modify the order.
We Are Committed to Providing Thorough & Competent Legal Representation
We Have Free, Weekly and Completely Confidential Seminars
We Offer Private, Discreet, and Confidential Consultations
We Have Represented and Counseled Over 15,000 People
Our Attorneys Have Over 100 Years of Combined Experience
We Represent Clients in Divorce & Other Family Law Matters
Parenting-Time Decisions in Oakland County
Michigan uses the term parenting time for the time a child spends with a parent under an agreement or court order. Visitation is an older or alternate term that parents may still encounter, but a Michigan parenting order generally uses parenting-time language.
Parenting-time decisions focus on the child’s best interests and the circumstances of the family. A schedule may address regular weekdays and weekends, overnights, holidays, vacations, school activities, transportation, exchange locations, parent-child communication, and special occasions.
Specific written terms matter. Broad language offering liberal or reasonable parenting time may leave parents without clear directions about dates, times, exchanges, or missed visits. We help parents develop proposed terms that identify how the schedule is intended to operate.
In Oakland County, custody and parenting-time matters are handled by the Family Division of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court. The court process may differ depending on whether a parent is seeking an initial order, requesting a modification, enforcing an existing order, or raising an immediate safety issue.
Friend of the Court & Mediation
The Oakland County Friend of the Court provides services related to custody and parenting-time disputes, including formal and informal mediation. Alternative Dispute Resolution may also be available in some cases. Mediation isn’t a universal requirement for every dispute, and the appropriate process depends on the case, the court’s direction, and whether the parties can participate safely and productively.
Motions, Hearings & Court Orders
A contested matter may involve negotiation, a Friend of the Court conference or service, mediation, motion practice, a hearing, and entry of a court order.
Collaborative Practice & Negotiated Parenting Plans
At The Law Firm of Victoria, P.C., we emphasize Collaborative Practice as one option for resolving family conflicts outside a fully adversarial court process. With over 100 years of combined legal experience, we help parents evaluate whether negotiated discussions are appropriate for their circumstances.
In family law matters, Collaborative Practice prioritizes open communication and respect. This process may enable parents to create a customized parenting plan outside the courtroom that addresses schedules, exchanges, holidays, school responsibilities, communication expectations, and methods for resolving future disagreements.
Collaborative discussions or mediation may not fit every family, particularly when there are safety concerns, coercion, or an inability to negotiate productively. When parents do reach an agreement, its terms generally must be incorporated into an enforceable court order before they can be enforced as an order.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I appreciate your kindness, professionalism and patience. You are truly a blessing.”
Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I appreciate your kindness, professionalism and patience. You are truly a blessing. My life and my children’s lives are better because of you. Thanks a million!
P.O.
“I want to thank all of you who gave so unselfishly to help me get my dignity back.”
I want to thank all of you who gave so unselfishly to help me get my dignity back. Thank you for your efforts to make my life better than it had been for a long time. I enjoyed spending time with you and watching you use your expertise to reach a settlement I could accept. You fought to the very end for the best possible conclusion. Thank you for all you accomplished for me.
D.F.
“You have been a great help for me and have opened my eyes to a lot of new information and I am very thankful for you and the Law Firm of Victoria.”
I thank you again for all your help and support and I am hopeful this time we will figure things out and I will not have to call you in the future. You have been a great help for me and have opened my eyes to a lot of new information and I am very thankful for you and the Law Firm of Victoria.
Reasons to Modify a Custody or Parenting-Time Order
A judge doesn’t automatically reconsider an existing order whenever a parent requests a change. Under Michigan law, a parent generally must establish proper cause or a change of circumstances before the court modifies a prior custody or parenting-time order. The precise standard and burden of proof depend on the existing custodial environment and the type of change requested.
If a proposed change would alter an established custodial environment, meaning the relationship in which the child naturally looks to a parent for guidance, discipline, necessities, and comfort, the requesting parent may need clear and convincing evidence that the change is in the child’s best interests. A custody lawyer serving Oakland County can evaluate the existing order, the requested relief, and the evidence relevant to the applicable standard.
Common reasons for seeking legal advice about modification include:
A proposed relocation that may affect the existing arrangement
Repeated violations of the custody or parenting-time order
Changes in the child’s age, school, health, or emotional needs
Significant changes in a parent’s circumstances
Concerns that the child may be in danger
Your children may have grown from toddlers into teenagers, started a new school, developed a medical condition, or shown signs of emotional distress related to their living circumstances. A requested modification must still satisfy the legal standards applicable to the existing order and the change being requested.
Relocation & Change of Domicile
An existing agreement or order may restrict a parent’s ability to move out of state. It may also require a parent to obtain consent or court approval before a proposed move. Because change-of-domicile requirements depend on Michigan law, the parents’ rights, and the existing custodial arrangement, legal advice should be obtained before relocating.
Enforcing a Custody or Parenting-Time Order
Parents may face unannounced trips, repeated late returns, missed parenting time, unapproved schedule changes, or communication failures. Depending on the wording of the order and the facts, these issues may support enforcement proceedings, a request for more specific terms, or a modification. A parent generally shouldn’t disregard an existing order without legal advice unless an emergency and applicable law require immediate protective action.
Parental Circumstances Have Changed
A parent who was previously denied or limited in custodial rights may seek a modification after meaningful changes in their circumstances. For example, a parent recovering from substance-use problems may present evidence of two years of sobriety and stable employment. Those facts don’t guarantee additional parenting time, but the court may consider them with the other evidence and the child’s best interests.
The Child May Be in Danger
The child’s safety is a critical consideration. If a parent’s conduct or living situation puts the children in danger, urgent legal advice may be needed to evaluate protective measures, supervised parenting time, an emergency motion, or other court-directed safeguards.
If you believe your children face immediate danger, don’t wait. Contact law enforcement promptly before pursuing court relief with your attorney. The appropriate next step depends on the immediate risk, the existing order, and current Michigan law.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Can I Modify an Existing Custody Order?
You generally must file a motion and establish proper cause or a change of circumstances under Michigan law. The required evidence depends on the current order, whether an established custodial environment exists, and how the requested change would affect it. A court then evaluates the applicable best-interests factors.
What Should I Expect During the Custody Process?
The process depends on the dispute. It may involve a motion or initial filing, negotiation, Friend of the Court services, mediation, hearings, and entry of an order. If an agreement isn’t reached, the court may decide contested issues after considering the evidence and Michigan’s best-interests factors.
Is 50/50 Parenting Time Best for Every Child?
No single parenting-time percentage is automatically best for every child. A 50/50 schedule may require frequent exchanges, consistent communication, workable travel distances, and coordination about school, activities, belongings, and discipline. The court considers the child’s best interests and the family’s specific circumstances, including whether the schedule supports a meaningful relationship with each parent.
Prepare for Your Oakland County Custody Matter
Parents seeking an initial order or dealing with modification, enforcement, relocation, or safety concerns can use a consultation to identify the legal issue and possible next steps. Our attorneys have over 100 years of combined legal experience, and our firm has represented and counseled more than 15,000 people.
Consultations are available in person and by phone for free.
Our Frequently Asked Questions provide general information, but advice about your circumstances requires a review of the facts and current order.
Contact us today or call our Oakland County custody attorneys at (248) 780-1775 to discuss your situation and whether legal representation is appropriate.
