Michigan Bill Heads to Governor

“Right now step parents must go through a lengthy court process to adopt their spouse’s child.

Tonight, a bill aimed at changing that is headed to the governor’s desk.

The bill cleared the Michigan Senate several months ago, and passed the House this week.

If a step-parent in Michigan tries to adopt their spouse’s child, they must go through an inefficient and expensive court process.

That’s according to State Senator Tonya Schuitmaker. The West Michigan Republican introduced a bill aimed to make the system work better for parents and children.

This is how Schuitmaker’s bill works.

The bill will allow a step-parent to petition the court to gain custody of the child. The court may then terminate the rights of the biological parent if they did not provide support for the child and failed to contact or visit the child for two or more years.

The bill also looks at how long court proceedings take.

Senator Schuitmaker says if a parent who has custody remarries, the process to get their new spouse adoption rights is bogged down by time-consuming court proceedings.

So we checked.

According to three Michigan attorneys we spoke to, the adoption for step parents can take anywhere from six months to over a year.

The reason is because under the current system, two separate trials must take place; one trial to grant sole custody to the biological parent and another to allow the stepparent to adopt the child.

The bill would eliminate the additional step in this process, which supporters say will save parents and Michigan courts time and money.”

Bill aimed at changing some adoption procedures heading to governor’s desk[WWMT 5/20/16 by Nick Minok]

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