The trial court’s finding that the termination of the respondents’ parental rights was in the child’s best interests must be “conditionally reverse[d],” the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled, because the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) failed to comply with its statutory duty to investigate relative placements.

The trial court “committed clear legal error” in this custody case by not applying the “parental presumption” or making the required best-interest determination before ordering that the plaintiff-mother’s child remain with the defendant, a putative father who had no legal rights to the child.

The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that requiring a social worker who abuses a child to report that abuse under the Child Protection Law violates the social worker’s right against self-incrimination.

The trial court erred in denying the respondent’s motion to terminate a personal protection order (PPO) that was issued against him because the court proceedings “lacked the due process needed for continuation of the PPO,” the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

The trial court in this child-protective proceeding did not “articulate an adequate basis or make sufficient factual findings to justify its denial of jurisdiction” over the minor child, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

The Michigan Supreme Court decided the trial court wrongly held that expert testimony on shaken baby syndrome (SBS) was inadmissible under the rules of evidence and, as a result, the defendant is entitled to a new trial.