Articles Posted in Family Law

By Kelly M. Neumann, a Michigan family law attorney and Principal Attorney at Neumann Law Group. Last updated October 8, 2026. Michigan courts decide contested custody by working through 12 lettered factors set out at MCL 722.23, running from (a) to (l). The statute assigns them no weights, so no single factor decides a case…

By Kelly M. Neumann, a Michigan family law attorney and Principal Attorney at Neumann Law Group. Last updated October 3, 2026. A Michigan custody order is built to last, and the statute that allows it to be changed is arranged as a series of thresholds rather than a single question. A parent asking for a…

By Kelly M. Neumann, a Michigan family law attorney and Principal Attorney at Neumann Law Group. Last updated September 30, 2026. Michigan sets three separate statutory thresholds before a divorce judgment can be entered. They govern where the parties have lived, what the complaint is allowed to say, and how much time has to pass…

By Kelly M. Neumann, a Michigan family law attorney and Principal Attorney at Neumann Law Group. Last updated September 8, 2026. Michigan divides the marital estate equitably and generally leaves each spouse’s separate property alone. Two statutes cut into that second rule, and they do so on grounds that have nothing to do with whether…

By Kelly M. Neumann, a Michigan estate planning attorney and Principal Attorney at Neumann Law Group. Last updated September 8, 2026. A Michigan will can leave a surviving spouse nothing, and the spouse can decline to accept that. The elective share is the mechanism, and it is smaller and more conditional than its reputation. Three…