Rule 3.202.Capacity to Sue

MCR 3.202 runs to two short subrules and settles one question: who may sue and be sued in a domestic relations action. Capacity is a threshold problem, not a merits problem, and this rule keeps the answer for family cases in step with the answer for civil cases generally.

Minors and incompetent persons

Subrule (A) routes minors and incompetent persons to MCR 2.201, the general civil rule on parties. Nothing in subchapter 3.200 builds a separate capacity standard for domestic relations work. The opening clause of subrule (A), except as provided in subrule (B), is the only qualification, and it points at the one group the rule treats differently.

Emancipated minors

Subrule (B) is the carve-out. An emancipated minor may sue and be sued in the minor's own name, as provided in MCL 722.4e(1)(b). The phrase in the minor's own name is what matters: the emancipated minor is the party of record, not a person represented through the general mechanism that subrule (A) invokes.

The rule does not define emancipation, set out how a minor becomes emancipated, or describe what proof a court will want. It points to the statute for all of that and states only the consequence for litigation capacity.

What the rule reaches

Both subrules use the same paired phrase, sue and be sued. Capacity under this rule runs in both directions. A minor who may be a plaintiff under it may also be named as a defendant under it, and a minor who may not is on the other side of the same line for both purposes.

Because subchapter 3.200 covers paternity, support, and custody as well as the marital actions, capacity questions surface here in more than one posture. A young parent can appear on either side of a support or paternity matter. Subrule (B) is the provision that decides whether that person litigates in their own name.

What the rule leaves alone

MCR 3.202 says nothing about what claims a party may bring, what relief a court may grant, or how a case proceeds once it is filed. It also says nothing about representation by counsel. It answers the narrow question of whose name goes in the caption and leaves the rest of the subchapter to handle the case.