When you prepare a Michigan divorce involving children, several documents can ask for names, income and family information. It is easy to assume they are duplicates and set one aside. Each has a different job, and some go to different places.
A useful way to organize the work is to separate your child’s residence history, the information needed by the Friend of the Court, and the financial information exchanged between spouses. This guide explains those distinctions and what to gather before you start. It is a preparation guide for the ordinary divorce process, not a complete filing packet or a recommendation about custody.
Start with the right family information
Before choosing a “with children” or “without children” packet, write down the children connected to the marriage, their ages, any pregnancy and any existing parentage or custody orders. Michigan’s court rule 3.206 requires the complaint to address children and pregnancy; the form choice is not simply a question of whether you and your spouse currently agree.
If a child was born during the marriage but legal parentage is disputed, or another court has already made a custody order, get help identifying the correct procedure before completing a standard packet. Do not solve that uncertainty by leaving a child or prior case out.
Keep your preparation notes factual. A list of dates, documents and unanswered questions is more useful at this stage than a long account of why the marriage ended.
MC 416: the child’s residence and court history
MC 416, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act Affidavit, helps the court understand the child’s history and other custody proceedings. Its initials are often shortened to UCCJEA. The current form asks where the children have lived during the past five years, with whom they lived, and about relevant proceedings or people claiming custody or parenting-time rights.
Prepare a timeline for each child. Use school records, leases or your calendar to check moves and dates rather than guessing. Include cities, states and countries, and addresses when available. If siblings lived in different places, do not copy one child’s history onto the other’s form.
Gather the case name, number, court and relevant order dates for earlier proceedings. The form also asks about the child’s “home state,” includes a safety-risk statement, and contains a sworn-signature section. Read both pages and sign under oath before a deputy clerk or notary public, as the form directs.
A recent interstate move or an existing out-of-state order deserves legal review. Filling in a Michigan address does not, by itself, resolve which court may decide custody.
FOC 23: information for the Friend of the Court
The Verified Statement, FOC 23, collects information used by the Friend of the Court, commonly called the FOC. It asks about the parents, employment, income, public assistance, the children and available health coverage.
For this form, gather current employer information, gross weekly income and the details of each child’s health plan. Check the policyholder and which children the plan actually covers. Keep this information available privately rather than attaching unrelated employment or medical records.
FOC 23 is separate from the longer financial disclosure discussed below. Under MCR 3.206(C)(1), the party seeking relief in an action involving a minor must provide the verified statement to the FOC and serve a copy on the other party. Ask your county how to route it correctly.
Check the form’s instructions if public-assistance information changes before judgment. Do not assume that an old statement remains accurate simply because you already submitted it.
CC 320: financial information exchanged between spouses
CC 320, the Domestic Relations Verified Financial Information Form, covers income, assets, debts and other financial matters. Its opening instructions give an important distinction: serve the completed form on the other party; do not file the financial form with the court. File the proof of service instead.
The ordinary deadline is 28 days after service of the defendant’s initial responsive pleading. This is not automatically 28 days after you file your complaint. The form identifies exceptions for a written agreement not to exchange it or a qualifying settlement or final-order document signed by both parties at filing, plus a special exchange procedure for certain self-represented domestic-violence survivors. Confirm which instructions apply to your case.
Start gathering records before the deadline arrives. CC 320 requests recent pay information, tax returns and account records. Work through its attachment instructions directly. Check whether an income entry is weekly, biweekly or monthly, and record the date associated with an account balance.
A folder labeled “financial exchange” can prevent these private materials from being mixed into your ordinary court-filing set.
Prior family cases need a separate check
The Confidential Case Inventory, MC 21, has a different purpose again. It identifies known pending or resolved family-division or tribal-court cases involving the named people or their family members.
Its instructions say to file it with the complaint or petition, but not attach or staple it to that document. It is confidential and is not served on the other parties. That is different from the service instructions for FOC 23.
Use prior orders and notices to check the case numbers, courts, status and whether support or custody orders remain in effect. Keep a copy of each source document in your own working folder. A case can matter even if it is no longer active.
Make a privacy check before making copies
“Confidential” does not always mean “withheld from your spouse.” Michigan’s court-records guidance explains the different protections for identifying information and domestic-relations records.
If disclosing an address could endanger you or a child, raise that issue before sending the documents. The rules and forms provide protections, but they also require explanations and sometimes an alternative way to receive documents. Ask the court’s self-help staff or a lawyer how to use those protections. Do not simply substitute a false address or assume that checking a box protects every copy.
Likewise, do not copy sensitive identifiers from a designated confidential form into an ordinary cover letter. Before uploading, confirm the document category and whether the file belongs with the court, the FOC or the other party. Keep your own records secure.
Check your county’s opening requirements
These forms do not replace the complaint, summons or other documents required to start the case. County instructions help explain the local submission process. For example, Livingston County’s divorce filing page lists additional items for cases with children, including the Verified Statement. It specifies original documents and copy arrangements, and identifies a judgment-information form when certain temporary orders are requested.
Use that as an example of why a local check matters, not as instructions for every Michigan county. Ask your filing court:
- Which current checklist applies to my filing route?
- How should confidential documents and the FOC copy be submitted?
- Which originals, signatures and copies are required?
- Are there additional documents for the temporary relief I am requesting?
- What filing, service and later hearing steps remain after submission?
Your next step: assemble information before completing forms
Set aside a short preparation session for three tasks: build the children’s residence timeline, collect prior orders, and gather current income and insurance records. Mark anything you cannot verify so it can be resolved before you sign.
Michigan Legal Help offers a preparation worksheet and explanation of its free divorce-form tool. Its worksheet is useful for seeing what information an interview may need; completing a worksheet alone does not open a court case.
If you choose GetDivorcePapers’ guided questionnaire and document-preparation service, check with support which child-related forms and county instructions are included in your purchase. Preparation is separate from filing, service and the court’s decisions. Before submitting anything, compare the finished documents with your records and your court’s current instructions.
