Welcome
The Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR) coordinates the alternative
dispute resolution services of the State Court Administrative Office. The
office's primary purposes include: increasing the awareness of dispute
resolution options among the legal system's many constituents, helping courts
increase dispute resolution options for people using the court system,
administering the Community Dispute Resolution Program, and developing and
evaluating specialized dispute resolution programs and services.
The office also helps other divisions of the SCAO design collaborative
dispute resolution processes, and designs and presents training programs.
ODR administers the legislatively created Community Dispute Resolution Program (CDRP). This program makes grant funding
available to non-profit agencies to provide mediation to people in many types
of disputes, whether involving money owed, landlord/tenant matters, and even
divorce. Additional services the office provides include: developing training programs and materials, publishing reports and public education materials, and program evaluation. Additional
information about several specialized services follows:
Child Protection Mediation
Child protection cases are typically initiated by the Michigan
Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and frequently involve
temporarily removing children from their home so that parents can make
adjustments in their parenting skills so that the children can be safely
returned. Quite a few people can be
involved in a single case, including: the parents; attorneys for the parents;
an attorney for the children; an assistant prosecuting attorney; an MDHHS
caseworker; and foster parents.
Mediation provides an opportunity for everyone to develop a plan that
will result in the children returning to their home, called a “reunification”
plan. The mediator makes sure everyone
has a chance to share what is important to them in safely returning the
children home. Mediation results in
agreements in about 80 percent of the cases; the agreements are presented to
the judge who typically concerts the agreement into an order.
This collaborative process is an alternative to the parties appearing
at a contested hearing in which, at the conclusion of taking testimony, will
determine what the reunification plan will be.
Several evaluations have demonstrated the effectiveness of
mediation, and in a video, various parties in the mediation explain how
helpful it is in creating a space for the parents in particular to be closely
involved in developing the plan for returning their children home.
Divorce and Parenting Time Mediation
Parents who are unable to afford hiring an attorney and who have few
assets can consider mediating the terms of their divorce. If the parents do not have children, they
often are negotiating property, limited assets, and debt. If the parents do have children, they are
routinely also including child support, custody, and parenting time in the
mediation. It is always best to take any
agreements reached in mediation to an attorney to have the appropriate court
documents drafted and filed with the court.
After a divorced, parents may disagree over how the original order for
parenting time and custody is implemented. Sometimes one parent feels they have
been denied parenting time. While that parent can file a complaint with the
Friend of the Court, another option is to try to reach an agreement with the
other parent in mediation that reinstates or increases the parenting time of
the non-custodial parent.
Mediation is very effective in resolving parenting time disputes, with parents
reaching agreements nearly 75 percent of the time. To learn more about this
service, contact one of the Community Dispute Resolution Program centers [link
to map] or your local Friend of the Court. The service is supported in part by
a federal Department of Human Services Access and Visitation Grant
Program.