Rule 3.921.Persons Entitled to Notice

MCR 3.920 tells the court how to deliver notice. MCR 3.921 tells it who belongs on the list. The rule breaks the question down by proceeding type, then adds a separate track for a minor who has no father as the court rules define that term.

Delinquency

Subrule (A)(1) requires notice of each hearing to the juvenile, the custodial parents, guardian, or legal custodian, a noncustodial parent who has asked for notice at a hearing or in writing, any guardian ad litem or lawyer-guardian ad litem appointed for the juvenile, the attorney representing the juvenile, and the prosecuting attorney. When the juvenile is charged with a status offense in violation of MCL 712A.2(a)(2)-(4) or (d) and the court knows or has reason to know the juvenile is an Indian child, notice also goes to the tribe and to the juvenile's parents or Indian custodian, with the Secretary of the Interior standing in when either is unknown. The petitioner is notified of the first hearing on the petition, and a parent whose rights have not been terminated is notified of the first hearing on the formal calendar unless that parent's whereabouts are unknown.

Child protective proceedings

Subrule (B)(1) sets the baseline: the respondent, the respondent's attorney, the lawyer-guardian ad litem for the child, the other parents, guardian, or legal custodian, the petitioner, a party's guardian ad litem, the foster parents, preadoptive parents, and relative caregivers of a child in foster care under the responsibility of the state, tribal notice where the child may be an Indian child, and anyone else the court directs.

Subrule (B)(2) expands the list before a dispositional review hearing or a permanency planning hearing and requires written notice. Added to it are the agency responsible for the child's care and supervision, the person or institution with court-ordered custody, the attorneys for each party, the prosecuting attorney if that office has appeared, and the child if 11 years old or older. Subrule (B)(3) carries that list over to a hearing on termination of parental rights, again in writing, with one change: if the court knows or has reason to know the child is an Indian child, notice goes out under MCR 3.920(C)(1).

Juvenile guardianships and putative fathers

Subrule (C) collects the guardianship list, which again includes the child if 11 years old or older, the Department of Health and Human Services, the parents unless their rights have been terminated, the guardian or proposed guardian, any court that previously had jurisdiction in a protective proceeding, and the Michigan Children's Institute superintendent.

Subrule (D) handles the minor with no legal father. The court may take initial testimony on the tentative identity and address of the natural father. On probable cause that an identifiable person is the father, notice is served in any manner reasonably calculated to reach him, including publication if his whereabouts remain unknown after diligent inquiry, and a published notice must not name him. If the court finds the father's identity unknown, notice by publication is required, and the notice must state what the hearing is for and warn that failure to attend counts as a denial of interest, a waiver of notice and of appointed counsel, and could end in termination of parental rights. After that notice, subrule (D)(2)(b) allows the court to give a man shown by a preponderance of the evidence to be the natural father 14 days to establish his relationship, extendable for good cause. Subrule (D)(3) allows a finding of waiver when he fails to appear after proper notice or appears but does not establish paternity in the time set.