Last Updated on July 4, 2022 by Fair Punishment Team
You’re at your wits end and ready to file a divorce. You live in the great state of Michigan. Your search has led you to this article which discusses things like residency requirements, grounds for divorce, necessary forms, information gathering, divorce options, contested divorces, and service of documents, among other things. This article does not go into depth on spousal support also known as alimony. This article touches on child custody but does not go into great depth about custody issues.
If at the end of this article you still have questions and you probably well it’s always best to talk to a family law attorney in your local area. One of the single greatest benefits that a local attorney provides as an added value to their clients is by knowing how each judge is going to rule based on a particular set of facts and circumstances.
The first thing you should know is that in the state of Michigan there is no such thing as a legal separation. A divorce is either granted or it’s not. The court does not grant a divorce until at least six months have passed since the date of filing and serving the divorce complaint on your spouse. This is what’s known as the divorce waiting period.
There are two types of divorce in Michigan, a contested divorce and an uncontested divorce. A contested divorce is where you and your spouse cannot agree on all the terms of the divorce such as child custody, child support, alimony, division of property, or division of debt. An uncontested divorce is where you and your spouse agree on all the terms of the divorce.
Residency Requirements
The state of Michigan has specific divorce residency requirements for people that want to be granted a judgment of divorce. Your judgment of divorce will not be granted by any court in the state unless the complainant or defendant has resided in the state of Michigan for 180 days immediately preceding the filing of the action. Furthermore the complainant or defendant must have Resided in the county where the complaint is filed for 10 days immediately preceding the filing of the divorce complaint meaning the divorce is typically filed within the county where in the filing spouse lives.
What are grounds for divorce in Michigan?
There are no specific grounds required to get divorced in Michigan. Michigan is known as a no fault divorce state. Even if your spouse objects you can still get a divorce if you can show that there’s been a breakdown in the marital relationship and there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved.
The court must find that the marriage has suffered an irretrievable breakdown.
If you want to file for divorce in Michigan on fault grounds, then you can file for either a divorce based on adultery or desertion. Adultery is defined as voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse. Desertion is defined as willful abandonment by one spouse of the other without just cause or excuse.
Fill out the necessary forms to start the process
The forms to get started with a divorce in Michigan include a complaint, a summons, and a record of divorce. The judge must than hear proof in support of your complaint before entry of the final judgment of divorce.
The summons is a notice to your spouse that you have filed for divorce and that he or she must file an answer with the court within 21 days if he or she wants to be heard.
The complaint asks the court to grant you a divorce and can also ask for relief on other matters such as child custody, child support, spousal support, and division of property.
You can find all these forms on the Michigan Courts website.
Gathering your important information
There are a number of important considerations for forms to get together before getting a divorce. These generally breakdown in two different ways.
#1 The forms that you need to gather before you leave the house if you’re planning to leave and move out from your spouse.
#2 The forms that you will need and paperwork that you’ll need in order to complete and have a good understanding of the divorce itself and related property distribution.
When it comes to #1, you’ll want to be thinking about things like birth certificates, record of marriage, bank account passwords and information, irreplaceable pictures and the like, and all other documents that are not going to be reasonably accessible once you leave the house.
When it comes to category #2 you’ll want to be gathering documents related to all assets and liabilities. So all retirement accounts, bank accounts, records of cars and related payments, records of real estate or housing, records of stocks and bonds, records of debts owed to anybody else, and all other documentation related to property distribution.
You’ll also want to make sure that you’re keeping calendars and records if this is a child custody case to show who had the child on what date, when the doctors appointments were, who took them to the doctors appointments, who took them to school activities or school, and extracurricular activities, and any other records related to the children.
Tell me the best divorce option?
The best divorce option is the one that is fair and leaves you in the best relative position possible. If the other spouse is being reasonable and most of the issues are not contested than working together on an online divorce or working through the paperwork together on your own it’s a real possibility. When the parties do not agree or there’s several contested issues it may be necessary to get a lawyer involved to resolve these aspects in front of the court.
No matter which divorce option you choose, it’s important to make sure that you are prepared with the proper documentation and information to make the process as smooth as possible.
Contested Divorces
A contested divorce is where one or more legal issues are being fought about during the course of a divorce case. This can be anything from how a piece of property is going to be divided to who will have custody of the children. The greater the dispute the more likely that lawyers are going to have to be involved in driving the cost up. To the extent that the parties can come to a resolution or compromise on contested issues, this will impact the ability to keep the cost of a divorce down and reach a reasonable resolution that doesn’t take a long time and a lot of drama.
Uncontested Divorces
An uncontested divorce is one in which all the legal issues have been resolved prior to filing for divorce. This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any disagreement along the way, but that now both parties are in agreement and are able to sign off on all the necessary paperwork. The big benefit to an uncontested divorce is that it can be done relatively quickly and without a lot of stress or added expense.
Serving your spouse with divorce papers
In Michigan there is a minimum timeframe of 60 days from the date of filing before you can be divorced. You will need to serve your spouse with all of the divorce paperwork and then depending on how they are served they will have either 21 or 28 days to respond to the divorce. If the parties are in agreement you and your spouse can sign a consent judgment of divorce and then the judge will sign off making a final. If you don’t agree then you’ll have to go through the court system and ultimately let a judge decide. Usually people will use either the Sheriff’s Office or a professional process server to ensure that service is property executed.
File Your Documents with the Court
In Michigan, you will file the application with the clerk of the court in the county where you presently live. You need to have been a resident for at least 10 days before filing. If the case is successful, you must pay a filing fee of $175 for a divorce without children and a $225 filing fee for a divorce with children. These fees are waivable in certain circumstances, based on a judicial determination.
The court will also require that you provide proof of residency and an Affidavit of Indigence if you are unable to pay the filing fees.
The next step is to complete the necessary paperwork, which includes a Verification, Summons, and Notice to Quit or Restrain. The summons must be served on your spouse along with a copy of the divorce complaint. The Notice to Quit or Restrain is a form that tells your spouse that you have filed for divorce and outlines what will happen next in the process.
Once these forms are completed, you must file them with the clerk of the court. The clerk will then issue a case number, which will be assigned to your divorce case.
You will then need to serve your spouse with the divorce papers. You can do this yourself or hire a professional process server. Once your spouse has been served, they will have 21 days to respond if they were served in Michigan or 28 days if they were served outside of Michigan.
If you do not agree on all of the terms of the divorce, you will need to go through the court system to have a judge decide. This can be a lengthy and expensive process.
You can also file for a Simplified Dissolution of Marriage, which is a simplified process for couples who meet certain requirements. You must meet all of the following requirements:
- You and your spouse must agree on all of the terms of the divorce.
- You must have been married for less than 6 years.
- You must not have any minor children together.
- You must not own any real estate together.
- You must not have a combined income of more than $30,000 per year.
- You and your spouse must both be residents of Michigan.
- You must both agree to use the Simplified Dissolution of Marriage process.
If you meet all of the requirements, you can file for a Simplified Dissolution of Marriage. The process is similar to an uncontested divorce, but there are a few forms that are different. You will still need to file the necessary paperwork with the court and pay the filing fees. You will also need to serve your spouse with the divorce papers. Once your spouse has been served, they will have 21 days to respond if they were served in Michigan or 28 days if they were served outside of Michigan.
If you do not agree on all of the terms of the divorce, you will need to go through the court system to have a judge decide. This can be a lengthy and expensive process.
How do divorce proceedings work?
Divorce proceedings start by one spouse deciding that the marriage is no longer going to work. There then begins a process of preparation and planning for the actual filing of the divorce preparation often includes gathering court related forms for filing and gathering of information and additional documents related to property distribution. If there are children involved it may also involve gathering all of the children’s records. As the information forms are gathered the forms are filled out and filed with the court and the other party is served. If the parties are in agreement they may be able to come up with a consent judgment of divorce. However if they do not agree then they will have to go to court and let the judge decide.
Michigan Child Custody Overview
If you’re not married to your child’s parent you must establish paternity before you can get a custody order. You do not necessarily have to file for divorce if you’re married to your child’s parent in order to start a custody case however filing for a divorce may be the best option for you. If you were not married to your child’s parent and the other parent has signed an affidavit of parentage you have establish paternity and the child has a legal mother and father therefore you can start a custody case. If you haven’t yet establish custody you’ll likely need to file a motion for a custody case instead of a complaint to start a custody case.
If you’ve never been married to the other parent of your child you must establish paternity before you can start a custody case and this is where the motion for custody comes in. The custody case must be filed in the child’s home state. Michigan will only have jurisdiction if the child is lived in Michigan with a parent for at least six months in a row before the case was filed or since birth.
In Michigan a custody case involves the responsibilities and rights of both parents toward the respective child. This includes things like custody, meaning who the child lives with and who makes decisions for the child, and parenting time which is visitation, and child support meaning how much one parent will pay the other to help support the child.
Legal custody means the right to make major decisions about the child’s life such as medical care, which school the child will attend, or if they’re homeschooled, which religion they’ll practice, including whether or not they’ll be baptized, and other similar items. If one parent has sole custody they make these decisions alone if the parents are joint custody they make these decisions together. Physical custody means who the child lives with. Usually the parent has both legal and physical custody. When it comes to parenting time usually when the parents have joint custody that means that the parents have equal parenting time or close to equal parenting time. If the parties cannot agree on parenting time the judge will decide. The children have a right to be close to both parents in general. Both parents have a right to parenting time unless the judge finds that there is clear and convincing evidence that it would be a danger to the child’s physical mental or emotional health to do so.
FAQs
How much does it cost to divorce someone in Michigan?
There are two primary costs associated with a divorce for someone in Michigan. The first are all filing fees and service of process related costs. These are fixed costs or hard costs. Filing fee costs can be waived by a proper filing with the court and a judicial determination. The second type of costs that a person might incur for a divorce in Michigan are related to attorney fees. The attorney fees that you all pay will depend mostly on whether or not there are contested issues with the divorce. The more contested the divorce and the more issues that there are for the parties to agree on the more that the attorney fees are going to be. The longer that the discovery process takes and the more depositions that are required the longer that this process will take. The other costs that are involved in a divorce could be use of experts. This can be anything from someone performing an appraisal or doing a forensic analysis of accounts to doing a custody evaluation.
How do I start a divorce in Michigan?
To start a divorce case in Michigan you must have lived in Michigan for a minimum of 180 days before filing. You will need to file the initial forms that are discussed earlier in this article and then serve the other spouse with process.
What is the first step in filing for divorce in Michigan?
Deciding that a divorce is the best option for you particular situation is an extremely personal decision. This is the actual first step. The second step is starting to organize materials related to the filing of the divorce.
How long do you have to be separated before divorce in Michigan?
To start a divorce case in Michigan you must have lived in Michigan for a minimum of 180 days before filing. You will need to file the initial forms that are discussed earlier in this article and then serve the other spouse with process. You do not have to be separated for a fixed time before filing a divorce in Michigan.
Conclusion
This article is hopefully a good starting place if you’re considering a divorce but nothing in this should be considered legal advice. This is all just for informational purposes only. If you’re considering a divorce before filing any paperwork it’s always recommended to talk to an attorney first for an initial consultation
