Beginning today, August 22, there are some changes being made in the Friend of the Court office.  You may be aware of some of them already, but I will lay out all of them for those who are not aware.  They are as follows:

1. Referees will be conducting settlement conferences pre-judgment instead of Facilitative Information Gathering (FIG) Conference.

Post-judgment:

2. Post-judgment, staff attorneys will be conducting joint meetings for parties PRIOR to filing a motion to see if they can assist the parties in resolving minor issues (exchange times and locations, supervisors, etc.).
3. Judge must hear all motions first to determine proper cause/change in circumstances.  Attorneys/parties can no longer stipulate to referring to Friend of the Court prior to this determination.
4. Judge will determine all legal custody issues, and any other issues that go along in the motion.
5. If you are referring a matter to the Friend of the Court, your order MUST say “referred to the Friend of the Court”. It can no longer say referred for investigation are referred for Referee hearing.  Everything will be referred to the Friend of the Court and based upon what the motion is about, the Friend of the Court will make sure it goes to the proper place.
6. Attorneys can no longer stipulate to an investigation.
7. Staff attorneys will conduct investigations regarding physical custody and parenting time only.
8. Parenting time issues will be referred to our Community Resolution Center for medication.
9. Referees will conduct evidentiary hearings.  Attorneys can always stipulate to an evidentiary hearing after Judge determines proper cause/change in circumstances.
10. Orders MUST be emailed to the Friend of the Court email address: foc@PROTECTED. Please do not email them to the staff attorneys. If they are emailed to them they will return them to you to email to the correct email address.
11. The Friend of the Court reserves the right to do amended referrals due to failure to follow FOC procedures.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.  I hope everyone has a great day!

Tara J Hofmeister

Saginaw County

Friend of the Court Director