Dad wins Custody, joint!

FlintFamilyLaw.com
- CUSTODY-HOT OFF THE PRESS-

This article by Flint Divorce Lawyer Terry Bankert. Family Law Attorney Bankert practices exclusively in Family Law. The Bankerts Lynn ( office manager) and Terry
( Divorce Lawyer) are there for you when you call. You will be an important client.
The Michigan Court of Appeals on 4/21/09 released the following "unpublished opinion from a case out of the Delta Circuit Court.

Issues: Custody; Whether the trial court correctly concluded an established custodial environment did not exist with either party; MCL 722.28; Fletcher v. Fletcher; Rittershaus v. Rittershaus; Baker v. Baker; Hayes v. Hayes; Foskett v. Foskett; Bowers v. Bowers
The case LC No. 08-019370-DM had as parties Ballo v. Branstrom.

THE MICHIGAN COURT OF APPEALS TOLD THE JUDGE OF THE DELTA CIRCUIT COURT THEIR DECISION WAS WRONG.

The trial court's finding an established custodial environment did not exist with either party was against the great weight of the evidence.

DAD WAS RIGHT WHEN HE ARGUED HE SHOULD HAVE JOINT PHYSICAL CUSTODY

The defendant-father appealed the trial court's order granting him and the plaintiff-mother joint legal custody and plaintiff sole physical custody of the parties' minor children. The court concluded the trial court should have determined an established custodial environment existed with both parties.

WHEN DAD IS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE CHILDS LIFE HE SHOULD GET JOINT PHYSICAL CUSTODY

The testimony showed since the children's birth both defendant and plaintiff had provided for their needs. The testimony also demonstrated the children had always looked to both defendant and plaintiff for discipline, guidance, the necessities of life, and parental comfort. There was no indication in the record any of this changed after the parties separated or at any time before the divorce hearing.

THE KIDS WERE NOT SHUFFLED BACK AND FORTH

While it is true repeated custodial changes can destroy a previously established custodial environment, unlike the children in Baker and Bowers the children in this case were not shuffled back and forth between multiple homes and various states, or subjected to multiple and repeated changes in custody.

THE CHILDRENS LIVES HAD INCLUDED QUALITY TIME WITH DAD AND IT SHOULD STAY THAT WAY

The children's time was simply split between two homes in the same state, one of which they had lived in since they were born. Further, the past exchanges of the children between the parties were "not so irregular or impromptu as to create uncertainty in the children's lives or destroy their expectations of permanency." Reversed and remanded.

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