Changing Parenting Time (Agreement)

Complete the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change Parenting Time to prepare an Order Regarding Parenting Time. (You will not need the motion form when you have an agreement.) Near the bottom of the order, sign your name above the line that says which party you are (Plaintiff or Defendant). Have the other party or parties sign their names to show that they agree to the new parenting time schedule.

Make five copies of the order. This includes any attachments. (If there is a third party in your case, make six copies.)

In some courts, the Friend of the Court (FOC) has to approve the order before the judge will sign it. Contact the FOC office at your court and ask whether they need to approve the order. If so, ask how to get the order to them. In some courts, you will need to take the order and all copies to the FOC office. Ask if you will get a call from them to pick up your papers. If you do not hear from the office within five days, call to find out when to pick up your papers. Pick up the order and all copies when they are ready.

Contact the FOC or the clerk’s office to find out how to get the order to the judge to be signed, and what to do after the judge signs it. Each court handles this differently. Listen carefully to the instructions. In some courts, you will need to pick up the order and copies from the judge's office and take them to the clerk's office to file. In other courts, they will already be filed for you, but you will need to pick up the copies from the clerk's office. In a few courts, the court will file the order for you in MiFILE and you can get an electronic copy through the MiFILE website.

In some courts you will need to pick up the order and copies from the judge's office. If this is not required in your court, go to the next step.

If the court did not already file the order for you, take the order and copies to the clerk’s office. The clerk will keep the original and one copy and return the other copies to you. Or if MiFILE is being used in your case, file the order on the MiFILE website. 

If your court already filed the order for you, you can get the copies from the court clerk's office. Or if your court filed the order in MiFILE, you can get copies on the MiFILE website.

Serve (send) the other party a copy of the signed Order Regarding Parenting Time within seven days after the judge signs it. If there is a third party in your case, you must also serve them in the same time frame.

You must serve the order electronically if you can and if the other party has access to e-mail. If you or the other party can't do this electronically, or if you are not sure, you can serve by regular mail. If you serve by mail, send the papers to the other party’s last known address. 

If you are using MiFILE to file documents electronically, your documents will be served electronically as long as the other party is also using MiFILE. If the other party is not using MiFILE, you will need to serve documents by e-mail, if possible, or by regular mail if electronic options are not available.

MiFILE is only available for some courts. Even in courts where it is available, you can only use it for some case types. The State Court Administrative Office keeps a chart of courts that use e-filing. To learn more, read What Is E-Filing?.

If you are serving documents by e-mail, keep the following rules in mind:

• All documents must be in PDF format;
• The e-mail subject line must include the name of the court, case name, case number, and the title of each document being sent;
• If you e-mail a document at or before 11:59 p.m., it is considered served on that day. If you send the e-mail on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it is considered served on the next business day;
• Do not delete any e-mails you send to the other party, especially e-mails that served court documents. You must keep a record of sent items until a judgment or final order is entered and all appeals have been completed.

Note: If the court already served the other party using MiFILE, skip this step and the next step. You are finished with the court process.

Complete the Certificate of Mailing on the remaining copies of the Order Regarding Parenting Time. Return to the court clerk’s office and file two copies. Keep the other copy for your records. 

If you served the order electronically, cross out the part of the Certificate of Mailing that says “by first-class mail addressed to their last-known addresses as defined in MCR 3.203” and write in how you served your documents. If it is by e-mail, be sure to include the e-mail address you used. For example, you could write “I served this document by e-mail to emailaddress@email.com.” File this in the same way you filed your other documents. 

If you served the other party using MiFILE, you will not need to file the Certificate of Mailing. MiFILE will create and file a Proof of Service for you.