Committee hears testimony to add great-grandparents to Child Custody Act

May Bowers, testifying on behalf of Rep. Paquette, told the Families, Children and Seniors Committee that House Bill 4,217 would amend the Child Custody Act to include great-grandparents "in all sections where grandparents are listed." She said companion bills (House Bills 4,215 and 4,216) would amend the Revised Judicature Act and the Probate Code to reflect the change. "We are simply just adding great grandparents to the law, as they are excluded, and only grandparents are listed," Bowers said.

Bowers described five conditions the bill would require a court to consider when evaluating a petition for parenting time by grandparents or great-grandparents: divorce, separation or annulment of the child's parents; death of the parent to whom the petitioner is related; parents never married and paternity established; custody awarded to someone other than a parent or the child otherwise not residing with a parent; and whether the grandparent or great-grandparent provided a custodial environment in the prior year. If a petitioner meets the statutory criteria, Bowers said, the established petition procedures would apply.

Committee members asked about demand and practical effects. Rep. Young asked whether the bill was driven by a volume of requests; Bowers recounted a case in which a great-grandchild living with great-grandparents was taken into state custody and the great-grandparents could not petition for visitation because they were excluded from the statute. Rep. Thompson, who said she is a grandparent raising grandchildren, supported the bill and asked the committee to also consider broader grandparenting laws in Michigan.

No vote on the bills was recorded during the hearing; the bills were presented as testimony for committee consideration.