Legal Question in Family Law in Michigan
Filing for full custody
Our ex daughter in-law has joint phyical custody of our grandchildren girl 5 & boy 6, 5 days a week. Our son has them every other weekend and every sunday however he now has temporary full custody ordered by the court because our grand daughter has accused her step father of molesting her. Ex daughter in-law is being procuted for failing to protect the children and the step father has not been charged yet however has been ordered from the home. Our son has filed for full custody but cannot afford attorneys fee up front and neither can we so he will try to represent himself, she has a a friend that is an attorney that represents her. Is there anyone that can provide assistance in a situation such as this? What are the chances of getting full custody by representing himself? Is it too soon to file or should he wait pending the outcome of her trail? The best interest of the children should prevail here. There is more to this story such as the ex's past suicude attempt, criminal back ground of family members and many apearences before the family & criminal courts over the past years. The children are the ones at risk here. Please, any help will be appreciated. Thank you
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Filing for full custody
If your son has a low income, he should contact a legal aid clinic. Many law schools provide legal aid inexpensively or sometimes for free. Check the yellow pages and nearby law schools. Unfortunately, attorneys in private practice do not have the luxury of working for free, even if we want to, since we have significant overhead expenses, cases cost money (travel, parking, etc.), payroll, student loans and on and on. Sometimes attorneys take pro bono cases when someone's rights are violated (usually a helpless person), but a custody issue as you describe it, however emotional and traumatic as it is for families, is not uncommon and probably does not rise to this level. If this is important to you and your family, you should hire and pay a good attorney to help you. Your money will be well spent. Otherwise, you and/or your son should be well-prepared and hope for the best, including a good judge (most are).
Good luck.
Re: Filing for full custody
Basically, what you are asking is for a lawyer to go to court on multiple occasions, get emersed in a trial, devote days upon days to your son's cause and to do so totally gratuitously. Would you go into the neighborhood mechanic and ask the mechanic to drop all other customers so that he could rebuild your engine simply because it failed without any cause on your part? Would you ask your doctor to drop other patients and devote days to your situation? Now, let's look at your situation. Your son married the wrong woman and has no concept that the situation created could be of his own making. You should also realize that this may be one of the most important things to happen in your life. And no one can come up with a dime to hire a lawyer? The judge has the responsibility to do what is best for the kids no matter if a lawyer is involved or not. Considering the reasoning of the adults in this case, those kids don't have a great head start in life.