54th Judicial Circuit Family Court - Referee Division

Referee

The Referee is an attorney appointed by the Chief Circuit Court Judge. The referee conducts a hearing just like a judge does.

Petitions

If you want to have an order that tells which parent has custody, or what type of parenting time (visitation) should occur, or how much child support/child care/medical should be paid, you need to file a petition. If there is already an order and you want to change custody, parenting time or child support/child care/medical, then you need to file a petition.

Petitions are available, free of charge, at the Friend of the Court office or on the Friend of the Court website. There are directions included with the petitions.  Basically, you need to file the original petition and three (3) copies with the County Clerk. There is a filing fee that must be paid to the County Clerk at the time of filing.

The three (3) copies are forwarded to the Referee Division Assignment Clerk. The Clerk will schedule a referee hearing and will send a copy of the petition and a Notice of Hearing to each party.

Hearing Dates

Referee Hearings are scheduled by the Referee Division Assignment Clerk according to the availability of dates and times. If you need to change a hearing date, you must contact the other party and get his/her agreement. The other party must then notify the Referee Division Assignment Clerk of the agreement to change the hearing date. Once the Clerk is notified, the Clerk will schedule a new date and send a new Notice of Hearing to the parties.

Telephone Hearings

If you live in another state, you may appear by telephone for parenting time and child support hearings. (Custody hearings are complex and telephone appearance is not generally granted.) You must file a Request for Telephone Hearing. Telephone Hearing Request forms are available at the Friend of the Court Office or on their website. Once the court receives a request, an Order will enter unless the other party files specific reasons to deny the request.

Referee Hearing Process

A referee hearing is a formal court hearing. The referee follows the same rules and procedures that a judge does. The referee uses the Circuit Court file and NOT the Friend of the Court file. Therefore, the Referee does not have direct access to the information in the Friend of the Court file.

The referee will only hold a hearing on what is requested on the petition. If you want to talk about other issues at the hearing, you must file an AMENDED petition prior to the hearing date.  

After each party presents proofs (testimony and exhibits), the referee makes a recommendation. Each party will receive a written form of the recommendation by mail.  The parties are notified that they may request a de novo hearing before the Family Division Judge by filing a written objection.  A de novo hearing is a new hearing.  

The written objection shall specifically set forth the portion(s) of the Referee’s findings and recommendation objected to and the basis of the objection (i.e. errors in findings of fact or law). The objection  must be filed with the Tuscola County Clerk, with copies served upon the Friend of the Court and the opposing party or counsel for the opposing party. Said objection must be filed within 21 days after the recommendation is mailed pursuant to Michigan Court Rules.

PLEASE NOTE: FACSIMILE (FAX) OBJECTIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. The de novo hearing will be on proofs adduced before the Family Division Judge, provided that the parties may stipulate to admitting into evidence at the de novo hearing a transcript of proceedings before the Referee, in which event the parties shall arrange with the Referee’s court recorder for the preparation of and payment for said transcript. The law further provides that the Family Court Division Judge, pursuant to MCL 552.507(3), may order a transcript of the Referee’s proceedings to be prepared and the cost thereof to be apportioned equally between the parties unless otherwise ordered by the Court. If no objection is received within said period, the recommendation shall become the order of the court to be entered without further notice to either party. Objection forms may be obtained at the FOC office, the Clerks office or the FOC section of this web site HERE

Once a written request/objection is received, the parties will receive notice from the Family Division court regarding the date and time for the de novo hearing and whether a transcript will be necessary.

Discussions With The Referee

The Referee does not hold discussions with parties outside of the courtroom.You cannot write the Referee a letter or try to telephone the Referee outside of the court.

The only people that the Referee will talk with outside of the courtroom are children. That is, if the hearing is held for either custody or parenting time purposes, a party may request that the Referee speak with the children, and only the children. A separate time will be scheduled for this purpose.