Rule 3.805.Temporary Placements, Time for Service of Notice of Hearing to Determine Disposition of Child

MCR 3.805 governs a single notice: notice of a hearing on a petition for disposition of a child under MCL 710.23e(1), in the temporary placement setting the rule's title names. It answers two questions. How much lead time does each method of service require, and what happens when the person entitled to notice cannot be located.

Lead time depends on the method

Subrule (A) sets two minimums, and the faster methods buy a shorter runway:

• 3 days before the date set for hearing, under subrule (A)(1), for personal service under MCR 2.107(C)(1) or (2), e-mail service under MCR 2.107(C)(4), or electronic service under MCR 1.109(G)(6)(a).
• 7 days before the date set for hearing, under subrule (A)(2), when service is by first-class mail under MCR 2.107(C)(3).

These are floors, not fixed dates. The rule says service must be made at least that far ahead, so more notice is always available and less is not.

An interested party who cannot be found

Subrule (B) covers an interested party whose whereabouts are unknown, other than a putative father who did not join in the temporary placement. Service on that party is sufficient if it is attempted at the last known address. The word is attempted. The rule accepts a good attempt at the right address rather than requiring the notice to arrive, which keeps a disposition hearing from stalling because someone has moved without leaving a forwarding address.

The putative father exception

Subrule (C) carves out the putative father entirely in two situations: where his identity is unknown, and where the whereabouts of a putative father who did not join in the temporary placement are unknown. In either case he need not be served notice of the hearing.

Notice how the two provisions fit together. Subrule (B) requires an attempt at the last known address for everyone else, and expressly excludes the putative father who did not join in the temporary placement from that requirement. Subrule (C) then confirms the result: no service is needed. The dividing line is whether the putative father joined in the temporary placement. A putative father who did join is not covered by the exception in subrule (C) for unknown whereabouts, and remains inside the general treatment of interested parties.

The structure is a trade between speed and reach. The short minimums in subrule (A) keep the hearing moving, and subrule (B) still asks for an attempt at the last known address of an interested party whose whereabouts are unknown. Only the putative father described in subrule (C) drops out of the notice scheme altogether.