Michigan Family Law Journal June/July 2015 FAMILY LAW SECTION MID-SUMMER CONFERENCE JULY 16 – 19, 2015 Boyne Mountain Resort
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M I C H IG A N FAMILY LAW JOURNAL A PUBLICATION OF THE STATE BAR OF MICHIGan FAMILY LAW SECTION • REBECCA E. SHIEMKE, CHAIR EDITOR: ANTHEA E. PapISTA AssISTanT EDITORS: SAHERA G. HOUSEY • RYan M. O’ NEIL • LIsa M. DAMPHOUssE EDITORIAL BOARD: DanIEL B. BATES • AMY M. SPILMan • COLLEEN M. MARKOU • SHELLEY R. SPIvaCK • JAMES W. CHRYssIKOS VOLUME 45 NUMBER 6 JUNE/JULY 2015 Chair Message: Mediator Standards of Conduct and the Importance of Screening ........1 By Rebecca E. Shiemke Notice Proposed Amendments of the Bylaws of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan ..................................................................4 Family Law Council Elections October 8, 2015 ..5 The Case of the Issue ..............................................8 By Henry S. Gornbein The 12 Steps of Mediation ...................................12 By Shon Cook Professor Lex .........................................................13 By Harvey I. Hauer and Mark A. Snover Residence Roulette in the Jurisdiction Jungle: Where To Divide The Pension?.............................15 By Mark Sullivan Tailored Installment Payments to Balance the Scales without Breaking the Bank .....................19 By Joseph W. Cunningham Recent Appellate Decisions .................................22 Summarized by the State Bar Family Law Section Amicus Committee Members Legislative Update ................................................27 By William Kandler Advertise in the Photograph On the Cover M I C H IG A N The photo on the front cover is Michigan’s State Capitol as FAMILY LAW photographed in May 2015 from the OURNAL 14th floor of the Romney Building. J The photographer, Ken Randall, is the Midland County Friend of the Court. Ten times per year, the Michigan Family Law Journal Ken is both a lawyer and an artist. As a reaches: lawyer, Ken has worked in the Midland • Over 3,000 State Bar of Michigan members directly; • Various courts and law libraries County Friend of the Court office for • Specialized financial professionals over twenty years, and before that for • State and local public officials six years as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Shiawassee County. Ken has served as president of the Referees’ Your ad for services or products – or your political Association of Michigan, president of the Michigan Family ad – targets people you want most and need to Support Council, president of the Shiawassee County Bar reach. Association, and president of the Central Michigan Family Cost of ad per issue: $350 –full page Support Council. He has actively served on the last two $200-half page quadrennial Child Support Formula Review Committees, as a $175-quarter page faculty member for the Michigan Judicial Institute and as a $100-eighth page presenter for several organizations including the Friend of the Prepayment for 10 issues receives a 5% discount Court Association and the Michigan Family Support Council. For details contact: As an artist, Ken is an award winning photographer. His photography has been published in many forums including Kristen L. Robinson books, magazines, newspapers, and web sites. His fine art c/o Mellin Robinson, PC 1755 W. Big Beaver Road photographs, usually pertaining to landscapes and nature, Troy, MI 48084 have been exhibited in Flint at the Buckham Gallery, in Telephone: (248) 614-9005 Midland at the Center for the Arts, and in Minnesota’s Great Fax: (248) 614-9095 Lakes Aquarium. Ken is a member of the Family Law Section. List of Council Meetings* September 12, 2015 Novi - Doubletree Inn *All regular, monthly Council meetings start at 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays and are preceded by a breakfast buffet starting at 9:00 a.m. The Annual Meeting customarily starts at 9:00 a.m. with breakfast buffet at 8:30 a.m. Family Law Section members who are not Council members are welcome at all Council meetings. However, if you know you are going to attend a meeting, kindly send an e-mail in advance so we are sure to have plenty of space and food. If a presenter or member wishes access to audio-video equipment, please let us know 7 days in advance. —Rebecca E. Shiemke; [email protected] 2014-2015 Family Law Section Officers and Council Members Chair: Expires 2015 Expires 2016 Expires 2017 Rebecca E. Shiemke Daniel B. Bates Elizabeth K. Bransdorfer Carol F. Breitmeyer Chair-Elect: Christopher J. Harrington J. Matthew Catchick, Jr. Hon. Richard B. Halloran Carol F. Breitmeyer Colleen M. Markou Sahera G. Housey Mathew Kobliska Treasurer: Peter Michael Kulas Vanessa Marie Moss-Wilson Hon. Richard B. Halloran Kristen L. Robinson Corresponding Secretary: Robert Charles Treat, Jr. Anthea E. Papista Steven D. Reinheimer Kent L. Weichmann Randall L. Velzen Gail M. Towne Rebecca E. Shiemke Recording Secretary: Tina M. Yost Kent L. Weichmann Amy M. Spilman Robert Charles Treat, Jr. List of Advertisers Family Law Section Mid-Summer Conference ..................................................................3 Great Lakes Honor Roll ..................................................................................................11 QDRO-Services, Attorney Mark Cherniak ......................................................................13 Family Law Section Lifetime Achievement Award Winners .............................................14 Barry Grant, CPA, CFF ..................................................................................................16 ICLE—Fundamentals of Divorce Practice & Procedure Seminar ....................................18 Judeh & Associates ..........................................................................................................20 QDROExpress LLC, Attorney Robert Treat ....................................................................21 Kristen L. Robinson—Family Law Mediation .................................................................25 Family Law Political Action Committee ..........................................................................26 Michigan Family Law Appeals, Scott Bassett ...................................................................28 The Michigan Family Law Journal Endeavors to Establish Letters to the Editor and Maintain Excellence in Our Service to the Family The Michigan Family Law Journal welcomes letters Law Bench and Bar and Those Persons They Serve. to the editor. Typed letters are preferred; all may be Editor: edited. Each letter must include name, home address Anthea E. Papista and daytime phone number. Please submit your Assistant Editors: letters, in Word format, to the Chair of the Family Sahera G. Housey • Ryan M. O' Neil • Lisa M. Damphousse Law Section, Rebecca E. Shiemke, c/o State Bar of Editorial Board: Michigan, Michael Franck Building, 306 Townsend Daniel B. Bates • Amy M. Spilman Street, Lansing, MI 48933, [email protected] Colleen M. Markou • Shelley R. Spivack • James W. Chryssikos FAMILY LAW SECTION “LISTSERV” (E-mail Discussion Group) The Family Law Section sponsors a “listserv,” which is “geek-speak” for an e-mail discussion group. To be eligible to join, you must be a member of the Family Law Section or be a Michigan judge. If you are eligible and wish to participate (it is a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and solve problems, not to mention communicating with many fine colleagues), you may initiate your subscription to the Familylaw listserv by going to http://groups.michbar.org/ and click on FamilyLaw. Once there, fill out the form under “Subscribing to FamilyLaw” and follow the instructions. If you have questions, contact Elizabeth A. Sadowski at sadowski@ mindspring.com, or call her at (248) 652-4000. To All Prospective Family Law Journal Authors: On behalf of the Family Law Council, I am encouraging our membership and readers to consider submitting an article to the Family Law Journal. Article Contact Person: The primary contact person at the State Bar for Journal articles is Sue Oudsema (517) 367-6423 and [email protected]. Article submissions should be e-mailed to Sue in Word format. Please carbon copy me ([email protected]) and Sahera Housey ([email protected]) and write “Article for the Family Law Journal” in the subject line when you submit your article. Article Deadlines: Please submit your articles to Sue Oudsema at her email address above no later than the last day of the month preceding the publication month. There are ten (10) published Family Law Journal issues each year. June/July and August/September are combined issues. Formatting and Links: Consistent with the Bar Journal’s practice, our formatting resource guide is The Chicago Manual of Style (see www.chicagomanualofstyle.org). Please use endnotes for citations. Feel free to include links in your endnotes, which will permit the reader to click — and then be directed to the original source or reference. Peer Reviewed: Authors are expected to have engaged another attorney to carefully review, critique, and edit articles before sending to the Family Law Journal for consideration. Bio & a Picture Please: All authors are requested to submit a short biography not to exceed 100 words (similar to the Bar Journal) and photo to Sue in conjunction with your article. Please Notify: If you are a first time author and wish to submit an article for possible publication, please advise Sahera Housey or Anthea Papista. Please include a detailed description of your topic. Editorial Board Discretion: The Editorial Board reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit all submitted articles. We shall endeavor to communicate any necessary substantive changes to the author