Emily Ann Parfet v. Todd Laine Lennen

Kalamazoo, Michigan family law divorce lawyers represented the parties in a dispute of visitation and parenting.



The parties in this matter were divorced in 2010. The judgment of divorce awarded the parties joint physical and legal custody of their two minor children, JL and LL. During the next few years, each party filed multiple parenting-time motions, prompting one referee to write that the parties "are not able to agree that the sky is blue on any given day." In May 2015, defendant voluntarily ceased exercising parenting time. In 2018, he moved for reunification counseling. The trial court ordered counseling sessions between the children and their individual counselors to determine whether reunification counseling would be appropriate. Subsequently, the trial court ordered all the parties to attend counseling with Dr. Kimberly Lem, after which Dr. Lem would report to the court whether she thought reunification counseling was appropriate, and why. Individual appointments were scheduled for defendant, plaintiff, and each of the children, and a joint session was scheduled for defendant and the children. Meanwhile, the parties stipulated to an order suspending defendant's parenting time. However, before his appointment with Dr. Lem, and less than a month before the scheduled joint session with his children, defendant canceled his appointment and withdrew without explanation his motion for reconciliation counseling. Left in place as the governing parenting-time order was the order suspending defendant's parenting time.

Parfet v. Lennen (Mich. App. 2022)

We reverse the trial court's award of attorney fees to plaintiff in Docket Number 355177. In Docket Number 356164, we affirm the trial court's finding that defendant failed to demonstrate proper cause or change of circumstances sufficient to trigger a review of the governing parenting time order, and we therefore decline to reach the issues related to the best interests of the children.

Parfet v. Lennen (Mich. App. 2022)