Want your voice heard by the Michigan Supreme Court on one or more proposed changes to court rules? Here's your chance. The court will hold a public administrative hearing from 9:30-11:30 a.m. on Sept. 16 at the Hall of Justice in Lansing to examine one proposed new court rule, and proposed amendments to 13 existing court rules.
If you want your voice heard, you must reserve space on the agenda in advance by emailing [email protected] no later than Sept. 14.
The following issues will be on the agenda:
1. To adopt a proposed new rule, MCR 5.731a, of the Michigan Court Rules that would require clinical certificates in mental health proceedings to be marked and filed as confidential.
2. To adopt a proposed amendment of MCR 5.402 that would require a court that discovers that a child under guardianship may be an Indian American child to schedule a hearing and investigate the matter.
3. To adopt one of two proposed amendments of MCR 7.209, that would either require that only a trial court judge or the Michigan Court of Appeals may order a stay of proceedings, or that filing a bond automatically stays further proceedings in a case.
4. To adopt one of two proposed amendments of rule 1.5 of the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct that would either prohibit "results obtained" or "value added" fees in divorce cases, or allow "results obtained" or "value added" fees in divorce cases.
5. To adopt a proposed amendment of MCR 6.106 that would clarify that a court would determine issues concerning a defendant's pretrial release, if any, at the time of the defendant's arraignment on the complaint and warrant.
6. To adopt a proposed amendment of MCR 7.215 that would revise the circumstances under which a Court of Appeals opinion is published, and would disfavor citation of unpublished opinions in the Court of Appeals.
7. To adopt a proposed amendment of MCR 3.613 that would provide clarifying changes for minor name change proceedings.
8. To adopt proposed amendments of MCR 6.106 that would clarify that courts are permitted to exercise their inherent power to order conditions that limit or prohibit a pretrial defendant's contact with any named person even while defendant remains in custody.
9. To adopt a proposed amendment of MCR 3.617 to require adoption files of foreign-born children adopted by a parent who is a resident of the state to be retained as confidential records like other adoption files.
10. To adopt proposed amendments to MCR 2.506 that would allow electronic or facsimile transmission of subpoenas to attend when the subpoenas are directed to specific departments or agencies, including the Michigan Department of Corrections.
11. To retain amendments of MCR 3.903, 3.920, 3.961 and 3.965 that were prompted by the Michigan Supreme Court decision In re Sanders, 495 Mich 394 (2014), to provide clarification and procedural provisions consistent with the court's holding that the one-parent doctrine is unconstitutional.
12. To retain an amendment of MCR 1.15 that adds "credit union" to the definition of eligible institutions in which IOLTA funds may be deposited.
13. To adopt proposed amendments of MCR 3.101 that would eliminate subrule (B)(1)(a)(ii) to make garnishments effective until satisfied and make other coordinating changes to reflect statutory revisions in 2015 PA 14 and 15.
14. To adopt proposed amendments to MCR 2.403 that would allow a reasonable fee to be included in a request for costs by attorneys who represent themselves or who are employed by a party to the case for legal services provided after case evaluation is rejected.
View the full Michigan Supreme Court notice.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
