Act No. 51
Public Acts of 2015
Approved by the Governor
June 8, 2015
Filed with the Secretary of State
June 9, 2015
EFFECTIVE DATE: September 7, 2015
STATE OF MICHIGAN
98TH LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION OF 2015
Introduced by Rep. Kesto
ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4482
AN ACT to amend 1970 PA 91, entitled “An act to declare the inherent rights of minor children; to establish rights and duties to their custody, support, and parenting time in disputed actions; to establish rights and duties to provide support for a child after the child reaches the age of majority under certain circumstances; to provide for certain procedure and appeals; and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts,” by amending section 2 (MCL 722.22), as amended by 2005 PA 327.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) “Active duty” means that term as defined in section 101 of the servicemembers civil relief act, 50 USC 511, except that “active duty” includes full-time national guard duty.
(b) “Agency” means a legally authorized public or private organization, or governmental unit or official, whether of this state or of another state or country, concerned in the welfare of minor children, including a licensed child placement agency.
(c) “Attorney” means, if appointed to represent a child under this act, an attorney serving as the child’s legal advocate in a traditional attorney-client relationship with the child, as governed by the Michigan rules of professional conduct. An attorney defined under this subdivision owes the same duties of undivided loyalty, confidentiality, and zealous representation of the child’s expressed wishes as the attorney would to an adult client.
(d) “Child” means minor child and children. Subject to section 5b of the support and parenting time enforcement act, 1982 PA 295, MCL 552.605b, for purposes of providing support, child includes a child and children who have reached 18 years of age.
(e) “Deployment” means the movement or mobilization of a servicemember to a location for a period of longer than 60 days and not longer than 540 days under temporary or permanent official orders as follows:
(i) That are designated as unaccompanied.
(ii) For which dependent travel is not authorized.
(iii) That otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to that location.
(iv) The servicemember is restricted from travel.
(f) “Grandparent” means a natural or adoptive parent of a child’s natural or adoptive parent.
(g) “Guardian ad litem” means an individual whom the court appoints to assist the court in determining the child’s best interests. A guardian ad litem does not need to be an attorney.
(h) “Lawyer-guardian ad litem” means an attorney appointed under section 4. A lawyer-guardian ad litem represents the child, and has the powers and duties, as set forth in section 4.
(i) “Parent” means the natural or adoptive parent of a child.
(j) “State disbursement unit” or “SDU” means the entity established in section 6 of the office of child support act, 1971 PA 174, MCL 400.236.
(k) “Third person” means an individual other than a parent.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days after the date it is enacted into law.
Enacting section 2. This amendatory act does not take effect unless all of the following bills of the 98th Legislature are enacted into law:
(a) Senate Bill No. 9.
(b) House Bill No. 4071.
This act is ordered to take immediate effect.
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Secretary of the Senate
Approved
Governor