Custody And Parenting Time
MCL 722.23 to 722.31 — the best interests factors, joint custody, parenting time, and moving a child
In a custody dispute between the parents, between agencies, or between third persons, the best interests of the child control. Where the dispute is between a parent and an agency or a third person, the court presumes the child's best interests are served by custody with the parent, unless the contrary is established by clear and convincing evidence.
The best interests of the child are the sum of these factors, each considered, evaluated and determined by the court:
- The love, affection and other emotional ties between each party and the child.
- Each party's capacity and disposition to give the child love, affection and guidance, and to continue the child's education and raising in their religion or creed, if any.
- Each party's capacity and disposition to provide food, clothing, medical care and other material needs.
- How long the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment, and the desirability of keeping that continuity.
- The permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed custodial home.
- The moral fitness, and the mental and physical health, of the parties.
- The child's home, school and community record.
- The child's reasonable preference, if the court considers the child old enough to express one.
- Each party's willingness and ability to encourage a close and continuing relationship between the child and the other parent. A reasonable action taken to protect the child or that parent from sexual assault or domestic violence by the other parent may not be counted against them here.
- Domestic violence, whether or not it was directed against or witnessed by the child.
- Any other factor the court considers relevant to the particular dispute.
In a dispute between parents, the parents have to be told about joint custody, and at either parent's request the court has to consider it and state on the record why it grants or denies it. If the parents agree on joint custody, the court awards it unless it finds on the record, by clear and convincing evidence, that joint custody is not in the child's best interests. Joint custody means the child lives alternately with each parent for specific periods, the parents share the important decisions, or both, and it does not end the responsibility for child support.
Parenting time follows the child's best interests, and it is presumed to be in a child's best interests to have a strong relationship with both parents. A child has a right to parenting time with a parent unless it is shown on the record by clear and convincing evidence that it would endanger the child's physical, mental or emotional health. Where the parents agree on parenting time terms, the court orders them unless it finds by clear and convincing evidence that they are not in the child's best interests. Either party can ask at any time for parenting time in specific terms.
A parenting time order can carry reasonable conditions, among them:
- Who transports the child, and who pays for it.
- Restrictions on third persons being present.
- Times for the child to be ready, and for the parent to arrive and to bring the child back.
- Parenting time in the presence of a third person or an agency.
- A bond to secure compliance with the order.
- Reasonable notice when parenting time will not happen.
Changing an order has its own threshold. The court may modify its custody and parenting time orders for proper cause shown or because of a change of circumstances. It may not change a child's established custodial environment unless clear and convincing evidence shows the change is in the child's best interests. A custodial environment is established where, over an appreciable time, the child naturally looks to the custodian for guidance, discipline, the necessities of life and parental comfort.
An ex parte parenting time order, and 14 days to object. Before a temporary order, a parent may seek an ex parte interim order about parenting time. The other parent may file a written objection, or a motion to modify or rescind it, with the clerk within 14 days after receiving notice of it. The friend of the court then tries to resolve the dispute within 14 days, and for a parent going ahead without a lawyer schedules a hearing held within 21 days after the motion is filed.
Moving a child more than 100 miles. Where custody is governed by a court order, a parent may not change the child's legal residence to a place more than 100 miles from the child's legal residence when the case began, unless the other parent consents or the court permits it after weighing the factors the section lists, with the child as the primary focus. The rule does not apply where one parent has sole legal custody, where the two homes were already more than 100 miles apart when the case began, or where the move brings the two homes closer together. A parent who needs to reach a safe location from the threat of domestic violence may move there with the child until the court decides.
How child support is calculated, grandparenting time, and the rules for a parent on military deployment are in other parts of the law and are not covered here.
Sources for this section (6)
- MCL 722.23 — The best interests of the child
- MCL 722.25 — Custody disputes, and the presumption in favor of a parent
- MCL 722.26a — Joint custody
- MCL 722.27 — The court's powers in a custody dispute, and modifying an order
- MCL 722.27a — Parenting time
- MCL 722.31 — Changing the legal residence of a child under a custody order
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Michigan attorney.