Summary — HB 5211 (Child Custody Act amendments)
Status: House bill introduced (filed Mar 14, 2025; electronically reproduced Nov 4, 2025). Introduced Nov 4, 2025 by Rep. Gina Johnsen et al.; read first time and referred to the House Committee on Judiciary. Tie-bar: takes effect only if HB 5212 and HB 5213 of the 103rd Legislature are also enacted.
Purpose
- Amend the Child Custody Act of 1970 (1970 PA 91) by changing the statutory factors and presumptions courts use to determine a child’s “best interests,” principally by creating a presumption favoring equal or approximately equal parenting time in disputes between parents.
What the bill would change (key provisions)
- Amends MCL 722.23 (Section 3 — “best interests” factors):
- Retains the statutory list of factors courts must consider and requires the court to enter written findings and conclusions when determining the child’s best interests.
- Continues to list domestic violence and the willingness/ability to facilitate a continuing relationship as express factors.
- Amends MCL 722.25 (Section 5 — presumptions and special rules):
- Creates a presumption that, in a custody dispute between parents, it is in the child’s best interests to award equal or approximately equal parenting time to each parent.
- The presumption can be rebutted only by clear and convincing evidence that equal/approximately equal time is not in the child’s best interests.
- Confirms that in disputes between parents and agencies/third persons, the child’s best interests govern; when between parents and an agency/third person, there is a presumption favoring parental custody unless overcome by clear and convincing evidence.
- Provides specific prohibitions where a biological parent has been convicted of (or found by clear and convincing evidence in a fact-finding hearing to have committed) certain sexual offenses against the child: courts shall not award custody to that parent (with limited exceptions, e.g., subsequent cohabitation establishing a mutual custodial environment). Defines “offending parent.”
- Clarifies that these prohibitions do not relieve the offending parent of child support obligations, and addresses the availability of affirmative defenses.
Who would be affected
- Parents and children involved in Michigan child custody proceedings.
- Family courts and judges (new presumption and the written-findings requirement).
- Child welfare agencies and third-party custodians (statutory presumptions clarified when custody disputes involve nonparents).
- Parties with criminal convictions for sexual offenses against a child — custody limits and definitions apply.
Legal standard and procedural aspects
- Introduces a heightened rebuttal standard — “clear and convincing evidence” — to overcome the equal-parenting-time presumption.
- Requires written findings and conclusions by the court when making best-interests determinations.
- Enacting section conditions this bill’s effectiveness on the enactment of companion bills HB 5212 and HB 5213.
Potential impacts (summary)
- Likely increases judicial consideration and awards of shared/equal parenting time in parental disputes, shifting baseline custody outcomes toward joint physical custody unless clear and convincing evidence indicates otherwise.
- May reduce discretionary variance among courts but could raise evidentiary burdens in cases involving safety concerns; domestic violence and sexual-offense exceptions remain explicitly addressed in the statute.
