Confidential Address & Info

Under Michigan Court Rule 3.218, certain Friend of the Court (FOC) records—such as staff notes, mediation materials, communications from minors, protective-services reports, and any information shielded by a court order—are classified as confidential and must not be disclosed without judicial approval.

Confidentiality

Family Violence Indicator and the IV-D Program

When the family violence indicator is checked “yes” for a party on the Michigan Child Support Enforcement System (MiCSES), the party’s address and identifying information are confidential and may not be disclosed. Since all court documents are filed in the official court file and are open to the public, the Friend of the Court must take steps to ensure that this information is not released to the other party. Identifying information includes: social security number, home address, school address, work address, dependent address, telephone number, email address, and driver’s license number. In addition, the party’s last name may be suppressed under certain circumstances.

How the Family Violence Code is Set in MiCSES
The family violence code is triggered in MiCSES by a court order of protection or no-contact, a claim of violence, a Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) indicator of confidentiality, a foreign PPO, a Michigan PPO, or a sworn statement.

Code is Set for Two Case Generations
To protect the identifying information of a party who is a survivor of family violence, MiCSES sets the family violence code to all of the party’s dependents’ cases for two case generations.

Alternative Address
When family violence is set on a party, he or she must provide an alternative address per Michigan Court Rule (MCR) 3.203. The alternative address allows the FOC to send correspondence to the party while still protecting his or her identifying information.