Parental rights - Michigan
Parental rights in Michigan
1 of 3 questions have been reviewed for Michigan. A question shown as "Not yet reviewed" makes no claim either way.
Educational reference, not legal advice. Nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Family law is state-specific and it changes: a statute or case cited here may have been amended, repealed or overruled since the review date shown. Verify against the primary source before relying on anything on this page, and talk to a lawyer licensed in your state about your own situation.
When a non-parent or the state asks a court to override a fit parent's decision about their child, what must they show?
Michigan: Harm or detriment required
Statute: MCL 722.27b(4)(b)
Michigan's grandparenting-time statute presumes that a fit parent's decision to deny grandparenting time does not create a substantial risk of harm to the child. The grandparent must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision does create a substantial risk of harm to the child's mental, physical or emotional health; if not, the court must dismiss.
Authority
- MCL 722.27b(4)(b) Statute
In order to give deference to the decisions of fit parents, it is presumed in a proceeding under this subsection that a fit parent's decision to deny grandparenting time does not create a substantial risk of harm to the child's mental, physical, or emotional health. To rebut the presumption created in this subdivision, a grandparent filing a complaint or motion under this section must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the parent's decision to deny grandparenting time creates a substantial risk of harm to the child's mental, physical, or emotional health. If the grandparent does not overcome the presumption, the court shall dismiss the complaint or deny the motion.
Can parents' own custody or child-support agreement bind them without a judge approving it?
Michigan: Not yet reviewed
Not yet reviewed. This page makes no claim about Michigan on this question.
One parent enrols the child in daycare, an activity or a private school without the other's agreement. Must the other parent pay a share?
Michigan: Not yet reviewed
Not yet reviewed. This page makes no claim about Michigan on this question.
How this was checked
Every citation here was checked against the primary source rather than a summary. U.S. Supreme Court quotes come from the official United States Reports PDFs published by the Library of Congress, and the reporter page shown is the page the quoted words actually print on. State case quotes come from the Caselaw Access Project's page-anchored text of the official reporter. Statutes and regulations are quoted from the issuing legislature's or agency's own site. Quotes are normalised to plain ASCII, which changes punctuation only, never words. Holdings are distinguished from dicta and from concurrences and dissents, which bind nobody, and contrary authority is included and labelled. Not yet reviewed is NOT a finding: it means nobody has read that jurisdiction's law for this question yet, and such a row carries no claim at all. No authority found is a different and weaker statement: a search was run and turned up nothing on point, which is not proof that nothing exists.
Dataset last reviewed 2026-10-17.