CVLAP Newsletter - March 2021

If you would like brochures mailed to your office for distribution please email Emily Miller at emiller@ mplp.org.

Job Postings
CVLAP-DV & Elder

CVLAP currently has open Staff Attorney positions in the following offices: Battle Creek (elder), Alpena (elder), Gaylord (DV), Upper Peninsula (DV & elder). We also have a NEW Supervising Attorney position open that is located in Northern Michigan. For more information or to share our postings with others go to MAP's application here.

Quarter In Review

In the 1st quarter of 2021 (October - December) CVLAP attorneys assisted 1,184 survivors of domestic violence and/or elder abuse, neglect or exploitation. During this quarter we closed a total of 507 cases. Of the closed cases, we provided extended services to 223 clients. We are incredibly proud of our amazing staff attorneys across the state and want to share some of the good stories (see below) that exemplify the amazing and much needed advocacy that makes this project so vital.

Excellence in Advocacy

Marie Nelson, CVLAP-DV in the Ypsilanti office of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, assisted a client who was the victim of abuse by both his wife and her adult son. Client's wife was physically, emotionally and financially abusive. She would take his money and then kick him out of the home (forcing him to stay in a hotel). When they fought she would bite him and call him names, including racial slurs. One evening during an argument, as Client was fleeing the house, Client's step-son shot him in the leg. Despite the fact that Client had been shot, Client's wife and step-son continued to attack him. Thankfully the police arrived after being called by the neighbors and Client was taken to the hospital. Both Client's wife and step-son were prosecuted. Marie undertook representation and was able to secure the full $25,000 award through the Crime Victims Compensation Fund for the client to cover a portion of his extensive medical bills after being treated for the gunshot wound. Marie is continuing to assist Client with his immigration case.

Mireille Phillips, CVLAP-Elder in the Macomb and Wayne County offices of Lakeshore Legal Aid, assisted a DV survivor at both the trial court and appellate level in advocating for a PPO. In a PUBLISHED decision (see below) issued on February 25, 2021, the COA found in FAVOR of Mireille's Client appealing the denial of her PPO. The COA found that the Trial Court wrongly excluded evidence of past acts by the respondent, using the doctrine of res judicata (i.e. claim preclusion), simply because that evidence had been presented in support of a prior PPO request (that was denied). Provided there is an additional incident triggering a subsequent PPO request, a Trial Court is required to consider "all relevant present and past incidents arising between the parties" and failure to do so subverts the intent of the PPO statute. Significantly, the COA wrote that even an act that appears to be "entirely innocent" may have meaning when taken in conjunction with other incidents show "nefarious intent or purpose."

Address Confidentiality Program

Public Act 301 of 2020 creates the Address Confidentiality Program (ACP). The ACP permits individuals and their minor children to apply for a substitute address to allow their residential address and other personal information to remain confidential. Those who apply may also request new state ID, drivers licenses and voter cards, with the post office box (the “designated address”) listed so participants’ residential addresses (the “confidential addresses”) are not listed.

To apply, the individual must indicate that disclosure of a new address will increase the risk that the applicant (or child or ward) will be threatened or physically harmed by another person or that the individual is a victim of domestic violence, stalking, human trafficking, or sexual assault. A program participant may request that any governmental entity use the designated address as the program participant’s address. The Department of Technology, Management and Budget will act as the participant’s agent for receiving mail and service of process. The Department will mail all first-class, registered, or certified mail it receives on behalf of a participant to the participant’s confidential address.

Although the statute provides the Attorney General with up to two years to develop and implement the program after an appropriation is made by the Legislature, the AG is beginning to set up the ACP. Companion bills include public acts 302-307 and 274-278.

Unemployment Benefits Available to Victims of Domestic Violence Who Leave Work

Public Act 258 of 2020 amends the Michigan Employment Security Act to provide that an individual is not disqualified from receiving benefits if they can demonstrate that the reason for leaving work voluntarily was due to domestic violence. The reason can include fear of violence at or en route to or from work, the need to relocate, to address the effects of the domestic violence, to receive services or shelter, or for the future safety of the individual or family. The existence of domestic violence may be established by a restraining order, police documentation, medical evidence or a letter from a professional who assisted the individual with the domestic violence.

This provision expires on March 31, 2021, however, because it was part of a broader amendment to the Act, it could be extended should the legislature act.

Abatement of Child Support Due to Incarceration

Public Acts 348 and 349 amend the Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act and the Friend of the Court Act respectively to abate, or suspend, child support responsibilities if the payer will be incarcerated for at least 180 consecutive days and will not have the ability to pay the support. Notice of an abatement must be sent to both parties, who have an opportunity to object. After a payer is released, absent good cause, a support payment under a modified support order is due no sooner 90 days after release from incarceration. Upon learning the payer is released from incarceration, the friend of the court must initiate a support review within 30 days. The Department of Corrections and local jails must provide Friend of the Court offices with records to identify payers who are or will be incarcerated for 180 days or more, their crime, and release date.

Beginning March 24, 2021, each support order must include a statement that “If the payer will be incarcerated for 180 consecutive days or more and will not have the ability to pay support, the monthly amount of support payable under the order must be abated, by operation of law, subject to section 17f of the friend of the court act, MCL 552.517f.” Support orders entered before March 24, 2021 are considered by law to include the above provision.

License Suspension to Enforce Child Support Payments Amended

Public Act 379 amends the Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act to add two new requirements that must be met before a court may suspend a support payer’s driver’s license for nonpayment of support. First, the court must conduct an ability to pay assessment and determined that the payer has an ability to pay but is willfully not making payments. Second, the Friend of the Court must determine that no other sanction would be effective in assuring regular payments.

Below are links (click on the pictures) to various organizations that provide training opportunities on issues that affect survivors of domestic violence and elder, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

The Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project is funded by a Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (“VOCA”) grant from the Michigan Crime Victims Services Commission of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to the Michigan Advocacy Program.