Proposal: Michigan Friend Of The Court Sunshine Act

If we the public can't see statistical summaries of FOC recommendations, then we have no capacity to judge the fairness of any recommendation. A recommender may willfully withhold all of the children they review from fathers, abusing his/her position and endangering children, to satisfy his/her own prejudices in violation of the Michigan Constitution. This is plainly a structural problem that the legislature must address. We need to approach the legislature with a simple, free, proposal to resolve this. Here's my first cut: Friend of the Court Sunshine Act (Proposed) The Friend of the Court Act Shall Be Amended to add a section, whose contents shall be: For each local Friend of the court, and for each person who prepares 50 or more custody recommendations for a Friend of the Court in a Michigan fiscal year (MCL 522.507a), the State Court Administrative Office shall publish, including electronically, a yearly statistical summary of the recommendations made by that person. That summary shall include: a) b) c) d)

The name of the person The name of the Friend of the Court The number of recommendations made by that person Statistical summaries of the recommended custody order, whether: i) sole physical and legal custody for the mother ii) sole physical custody for the mother, joint legal custody iii) substantially equal physical and legal custody for the mother and father iv) sole physical custody for the father, joint legal custody v) sole physical and legal custody for the father vi) physical custody by a third party

$50,000 of the first $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A. For each judge that rules on 50 or more custody matters in a Michigan fiscal year, the State Court Administrative Office shall publish, including electronically, a statistical summary of that judge's custody rulings. That summary shall include the same statistical information as the recommendations report. $50,000 of the second $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A. For each local Friend of the court, and for each person who processes and completes 50 or more requests for modification of child support pursuant to MCL 552.517, Section 17, d, in a Michigan fiscal year, the State Court Administrative Office shall publish, including electronically, a yearly statistical summary of the decisions made by that person. That summary shall include: a) The name of the person b) The name of the Friend of the Court

c) The total number of requests for child support modification processed by that person from payors i) the number for which the person determined that the order is due for review ii) the number for which the person determined that the order is not due for review d) The number of requests for child support modification processed by that person from payees i) the number for which the person determined that the order is due for review ii) the number for which the person determined that the order is not due for review $50,000 of the third $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A. For each local Friend of the court, and for each person who processes and completes 50 or more alleged custody or parenting time order violation pursuant to MCL 522.641, Section 41 in a Michigan fiscal year, the State Court Administrative Office shall publish, including electronically, a yearly statistical summary of the decisions made by that person. That summary shall include: a) The name of the person b) The name of the Friend of the Court c) The number of alleged parenting time order violations processed by that person d) The number for which the makeup parenting time was applied e) The number for which the person commenced civil contempt proceedings f) The number for which the person filed a motino with the court for a modification of existing parenting time provisions to ensure parenting time g) The number for which the person scheduled mediation h) The number for which the person scheduled a joint meeting i) The number for which the person declined to respond to an alleged custody or parenting time order violation because the party submitting the complaint had previously submitted 2 or more complaints that were found to be unwarranted, costs were assessed against that party, and that party has not paid the costs j) The number for which the person declined to respond to an alleged custody or parenting time order violation because the alleged custody or parenting time order violation occurred more than 56 days before the complaint is submitted. k) The number for which the person declined to respond to an alleged custody or parenting time order violation because the custody or parenting time order does not include an enforceable provision that is relevant to the custody or parenting time order violation alleged in the complaint. l) The number for which the person failed to follow MCL 522.641, Section 41. The number in c above shall equal the sum of the numbers d-l. $50,000 of the first $500,000 received by Michigan from federal Grants to States for access and visitation programs (US Code Title 42 § 669b. ) shall be allocated for this purpose, as it relates to "to enable States to establish and administer programs to support and facilitate noncustodial parents¢ access to and visitation of their children," The State Court Administrators Office shall publish, including electronically, a report of use of federal Grants to States for access and visitation programs (US Code Title 42 § 669b. ). That report shall include: a) The total amount of the grant

b) The total amount of the grant used for mediation i) voluntary ii) mandatory c) counseling i) of non-custodial parents ii) of custodial parents iii) group counseling of both parents together iv) of children d) education i) of non-custodial parents ii) of custodial parents iii) group counseling of both parents together iv) of children e) development of parenting plans f) visitation enforcement i) monitoring ii) supervision iii) neutral drop-off and pickup g) development of guidelines for visitation h) alternative custody arrangements i) Other The total from a shall equal the totals of b-i. For each expenditure or category over 5% of the total, the SCAO shall also include a summary of the expenditure and how it is used. For each grant category above for which there is no expenditure, the SCAO shall include a summary of why the grant money was not used to "establish and administer programs" in that category. Each local Friend of the court, shall cooperate with the SCAO in maintaining a complete record of grievances and transmitting them annually to the bureau. The SCAO shall publish a report of all information received annually. $50,000 of the fourth $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A. Penalties for failing to comply. For each local friend of the court, the SCAO shall determine the extent to which it complies with each of the reporting requirements above. For each report above, for which a local office fails to report, the SCAO shall deduct 1% of all payments to that local office. For partial compliance, it shall deduct 0.5%. Should a local friend of the court fail to report in the same categories for 2 years, the deduction shall be increased by 25%. Should a local friend of the court fail to report in the same categories for 3 years, the deduction shall be increased by 50%. Under no circumstances shall the deduction exceed 10% of the total payments to that office. All of the deducted payments shall be used to create a voluntary statewide internet based automated electronic request processing system for the direct processing and monitoring of child support modification requests, alleged parenting time violations, and grievances by parents. Such a system shall allow parents to make, track, and review requests online. Each local Friend of the

Court may voluntarily use such a system, and the system will automatically generate the reports required above to keep that office in compliance. Should that system fail to generate the correct reports, the local office is still liable for deducted payments, but such deductions shall be distributed to those local friend of the court offices that are in compliance.