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Welcome to the Sterling Law Office blog! Herein you will find news and views from and about Sterling Law Office, and topics or events which our legal staff deem of interest. Our attorneys are licensed to practice law only in the State of Michigan and in Michigan federal courts. The writing in this section is general in nature, and meant to be thought-provoking, informative and/or entertaining. Nothing here can be relied upon or taken as legal advice for an individual, specific situation or legal question. No attorney-client relationship is intended nor created by the content herein. We stand ready to give you such specific legal advice if you contact our office at (231) 326-4010 or toll free at (877) 221-7628. If you wish to comment upon anything at this website, click on the Contact Us button on the menu, and send us a note. We look forward to hearing from our readers.
ADAM at the Sterling Law Office is pleased to announce that fathers will soon have a new tool available to them to establish custody of their children born to unmarried parents. Thousands of unmarried Michigan parents each year sign an Affidavit of Parentage after the birth of a child. The names of these unmarried parents then appear on the child’s birth certificate. So that establishes equal rights to custody? NO! Unmarried fathers are shocked to learn that even though their parentage is established, unlike married parents, they do not have equal rights to custody. The fine print of the Affidavit of Parentage states that the mother has custody until a court orders anything otherwise! So surely the father can visit the courthouse and get this process moving, right? NO! The clerk’s office and the Friend of the Court office will tell him he must file a complaint. Well, where’s the form? Sadly, until now, there has been no form to get the case started, even though the State of Michigan has created dozens of family court forms for every other conceivable situation. Fathers without the means to hire private counsel have in the past had to wait for the mother to bring an action against him for child support usually through the Prosecutor’s Office, and in that child support case, if he agrees to whatever the mother demands, he can get a custody and parenting time order thrown in with the support order. If he disagrees on custody and parenting time, the court orders child support and nothing more (this despite the fact that since 2008 child support has been based on a shared economic formula considering the number of “overnights” each parent has with the child). To get disputed custody and parenting time ordered, he must still bring a separate action. He’s still shut out right where he started. The American Divorce Association for Men at the Sterling Law Office in northern Michigan has heard the frustration of unmarried fathers and stepped forward to fill the gap. Its new form Complaint to Establish Custody, Child Support and Parenting Time has now entered the final testing phase. After hearing the feedback from test participants, ADAM at Sterling Law Office will make the form packet with directions and required attachments available for purchase by mail and eventually through the internet. To participate in the free testing phase, contact Lea Ann Sterling at Sterling Law Office’s Empire branch 231-326-4010.