(A) Motion.
(1) A party, court-ordered custodian, or friend of the court may move for the postjudgment transfer of a domestic relations action in accordance with this rule, or the court may transfer such an action on its own motion. A transfer includes a change of venue and a transfer of all friend of the court responsibilities. The court may enter a consent order transferring a postjudgment domestic relations action, provided the conditions under subrule (B) are met.(2) The postjudgment transfer of an action initiated pursuant to MCL 780.151 et seq., is controlled by MCR 3.214. (B) Conditions.
(1) A motion filed by a party or court-ordered custodian may be granted only if all of the following conditions are met:
(a) the transfer of the action is requested on the basis of the residence and convenience of the parties, or other good cause consistent with the best interests of the child; (b) neither party nor the court-ordered custodian has resided in the county of current jurisdiction for at least 6 months prior to the filing of the motion;(c) at least one party or the court-ordered custodian has resided in the county to which the transfer is requested for at least 6 months prior to the filing of the motion; and(d) the county to which the transfer is requested is not contiguous to the county of current jurisdiction. (2) When the court or the friend of the court initiates a transfer, the conditions stated in subrule (B)(1) do not apply. (C) Unless the court orders otherwise for good cause, if a friend of the court becomes aware of a more recent final judgment involving the same parties issued in a different county, the friend of the court must initiate a transfer of the older case to the county in which the new judgment was entered if neither of the parents, any of their children who are affected by the judgment in the older case, nor another party resides in the county in which the older case was filed. (D) Order for Transfer; Case Records.
(1) The transferring court must enter all necessary orders pertaining to the certification and postjudgment transfer of the action to the receiving court.
(a) The court may not enter an order transferring until all pending matters in the case have been resolved.(b) The court must order the party who moved for the transfer to pay the applicable statutory filing fee directly to the receiving court unless fees have been waived in accordance with MCR 2.002.(c) If the parties stipulate to the transfer of a case, they must share equally the cost of transfer unless the court orders otherwise.(d) The court may also order one or both of the parties or the court-ordered custodian to pay past-due fees and costs under subrule (D)(4). Until all filing fees and court-ordered past-due fees and costs are paid, no further action in the case shall occur in the transferring court unless the moving party first demonstrates good cause and that substantial harm will occur absent the transferring court’s immediate consideration.(e) If the court or the friend of the court initiates the transfer, the statutory filing fee is waived.(2) Except as otherwise ordered under subrule (D)(4), the transferring court must serve the order on the parties and send a copy to the receiving court. The clerk of the court and the friend of the court each must prepare the court’s case records and the friend of the court’s case records for transfer in accordance with the orders entered under subrule (1) and the Michigan Trial Court Records Management Standards and send them to the receiving court by a secure method.(3) The receiving court shall temporarily suspend payment of the filing fee and open a case pending payment of the filing fee as ordered by the transferring court. The receiving court must notify the party of the new case number in the receiving court, the amount due, and the due date.(4) The court may order that any past-due fees and costs be paid to the transferring friend of the court office at the time of transfer. If the court orders payment of past-due fees and costs, the order must state that the court will not send the order to the receiving court under subrule (1) and the records will not be transferred under subrule (2) until the past-due fees and costs are paid. If the past-due fees and costs are not paid within 28 days of entry, the transfer order becomes void. (E)Payment of Filing Fee After Transfer. The party that moved for transfer must pay to the receiving court within 28 days of the due date provided under subrule (D)(3) the applicable filing fee as ordered by the transferring court. No further action in the case shall occur in the receiving court until the filing fee is paid unless the moving party first demonstrates good cause and that substantial harm will occur absent the receiving court’s immediate consideration. If the fee is not paid to the receiving court within 28 days of the due date, the receiving court must order the case transferred back to the transferring court.(F) Upon completion of the transfer, the transferee friend of the court must review the case and determine whether the case contains orders specific to the transferring court or county. The friend of the court must take such action as is necessary, which may include obtaining ex parte orders to transfer court- or county-specific actions to the transferee court.
Mich. Ct. R. 3.212
Amended September 18, 2019, effective January 1, 2020.
