SENATE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HB-5082, As Passed Senate, December 18, 2014

HOUSE BILL NO. 5082

A bill to amend 1970 PA 91, entitled

"Child custody act of 1970,"

(MCL 722.21 to 722.31) by adding section 7c.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

Sec. 7c. (1) A parenting coordinator is a person appointed by

the court for a specified term to help implement the parenting time

orders of the court and to help resolve parenting disputes that

fall within the scope of the parenting coordinator's appointment.

(2) The court may enter an order appointing a parenting

coordinator if the parties and the parenting coordinator agree to

the appointment and its scope. Before appointing a parenting

coordinator, the court shall consider any history of a coercive or

violent relationship between the parties. The court shall ensure

that the order appointing the parenting coordinator provides

adequate protection to the victim of a coercive or violent

relationship.

(3) The order appointing a parenting coordinator shall include

all of the following:

(a) An acknowledgment that each party has had the opportunity

to consult with an attorney and a domestic violence counselor.

(b) An acknowledgment that the parenting coordinator is

neutral; that the parenting coordinator may have ex parte

communications with the parties, their attorneys, and third

parties; that, except as provided in subsection (9), communications

with the parenting coordinator are not privileged or confidential;

and that by agreeing to the order, the parties are giving the

parenting coordinator authority to make recommendations regarding

disputes.

provide that the parenting coordinator may resign at any time due

to nonpayment of his or her fee. The order may include a provision

for extension of the parenting coordinator's term by consent of the

parties for specific periods of time.

(d) An explanation of the costs of the parenting coordinator,

and each party's responsibility for those costs, including any

required retainer and fees for any required court appearances. The

order may include a provision allowing the parenting coordinator to

allocate specific costs to 1 party for cause.

(e) The scope of the parenting coordinator's duties in

resolving disputes between the parties. These may include any of

the following:

(i) Transportation and transfers of the child between parents.

(ii) Vacation and holiday schedules and implementation.

(iii) Daily routines.

(iv) Activities and recreation.

(v) Discipline.

(vi) Health care management, including determining and

recommending appropriate medical and mental health evaluation and

treatment, including psychotherapy, substance use disorder and

batterer intervention treatment or counseling, and parenting

classes, for the child and the parents. The parenting coordinator

shall designate whether any recommended counseling is or is not

confidential. The parenting coordinator can recommend how any

health care provider is chosen.

(vii) School-related issues.

(viii) Alterations in the parenting schedule, as long as the

basic time-sharing arrangement is not changed by more than a

specified number of days per month.

(ix) Phase in provision of court orders.

(x) Participation of other persons in parenting time.

(xi) Child care and babysitting issues.

(xii) Any other matters submitted to the parenting coordinator

jointly by the parties before his or her appointment expires.

(f) Authorization for the parenting coordinator to have access

that may include all of the following:

(i) Reasonable access to the child.

(ii) Notice of all proceedings, including requests for

examinations affecting the child.

(iii) Access to a specific therapist of any of the parties or

the child, provided that a proper release is executed.

(iv) Access to school, medical, and activity records.

(v) Copies of specific evaluations and psychological test

results performed on any child or any parent, custodian, guardian,

or other person living in the parent's households, including, but

not limited to, friend of the court reports and psychological

evaluations.

(vi) Access to the child's principal, teachers, and teachers'

aides.

(vii) The right to interview the parties, attorneys, or the

child in any combination, and to exclude any party or attorney from

an interview.

(viii) The right to interview or communicate with any other

person the parenting coordinator considers relevant to resolve an

issue or to provide information and counsel to promote the best

interests of the child.

(g) The dispute resolution process that will be used by the

parenting coordinator, explaining how the parenting coordinator

will make recommendations on issues and the effect to be given to

those recommendations. The process must ensure that both parties

have an opportunity to be heard on issues under consideration by

the parenting coordinator and an opportunity to respond to relevant

allegations against them before a recommendation is made. The

parties may agree that on specific types of issues they must follow

a parenting coordinator's recommendations until modified by the

court.

(4) The court may terminate the appointment of the parenting

coordinator if the court finds that the appointment is no longer

helpful to the court in resolving parenting disputes or if the

process is no longer safe for a party or a child.

(5) The parenting coordinator may resign at any time, with

notice to the parties and to the court. If the court finds that a

party has refused to pay its share of the parenting coordination

costs as a means to force the parenting coordinator to resign, the

court may use contempt sanctions to enforce payment of the

parenting coordinator's fee.

(6) The parenting coordinator is immune from civil liability

for an injury to a person or damage to property if he or she is

acting within the scope of his or her authority as parenting

coordinator.

(7) The parenting coordinator shall make reasonable inquiry

whether either party has a history of a coercive or violent

relationship with the other party. A reasonable inquiry includes

the use of the domestic violence screening protocol for mediation

provided by the state court administrative office.

(8) If the parenting coordinator determines that there is a

history of a coercive or violent relationship between the parties,

the parenting coordinator shall not bring the parties within

proximity of each other unless the party at risk from violence or

coercion requests it and the parenting coordinator determines with

that party what reasonable steps, if any, can be taken to address

concerns regarding coercion or violence.

(9) The parenting coordinator is not required to disclose

information if disclosure will compromise the safety of a party or

a child.

(10) The parenting coordinator shall make his or her

recommendations in writing and provide copies of the recommendation

to the parties in the manner specified in the parenting

coordination order. If a party attaches the recommendation to a

motion or other filing, the court may read and consider the

recommendation, but the recommendation is not evidence unless the

parties stipulate that it is.

(11) The parenting coordinator shall not recommend relief that

is less protective than any other order related to the parties.

(12) Subject to the Michigan rules of evidence, the court may

allow the testimony of the parenting coordinator if the court finds

the testimony useful to the resolution of a pending dispute. The

parenting coordinator shall not testify regarding statements

received from a child involved in the parenting coordination if the

parenting coordinator believes the disclosure would be damaging to

the child.

(13) A parenting coordinator who has reasonable cause to

suspect child abuse or neglect shall immediately make oral and

written reports, or cause oral and written reports to be made, to

the department of human services as provided in section 3 of the

child protection law, 1975 PA 238, MCL 722.623.

(14) As directed by the supreme court, the state court

administrative office shall develop standards for the

qualifications and training of parenting coordinators, including

training regarding violent and coercive domestic relationships.