Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
April 17, 2015 Robert P. Young, Jr.,
Chief Justice
148927 Stephen J. Markman
Mary Beth Kelly
Brian K. Zahra
Bridget M. McCormack
MATTHEW HELTON, David F. Viviano
Plaintiff-Appellant, Richard H. Bernstein,
Justices
v SC: 148927
COA: 314857
Oakland CC Family Division:
2012-798218-DP
LISA MARIE BEAMAN and DOUGLAS
BEAMAN,
Defendants-Appellees.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, leave to appeal having been granted and the briefs and oral
arguments of the parties having been considered by the Court, we AFFIRM the result
reached in the February 4, 2014 judgment of the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the
Oakland Circuit Court’s denial of the plaintiff’s request to revoke the defendants’
acknowledgment of parentage as to the subject child. We agree with the Court of
Appeals authoring and concurring judges that In re Moiles, 303 Mich App 59 (2013),
wrongly held that a trial court is not required to make a best interest determination under
MCL 722.1443(4) in deciding whether to revoke an acknowledgment of parentage. For
the reasons explained in section II of the concurring opinion, we hold that an order
revoking an acknowledgment of parentage constitutes an order “setting aside a paternity
determination” and, therefore, is subject to a best interest analysis under MCL
722.1443(4). We also agree with the lower courts that in this case in which the
defendants have raised the child who is now eleven years old from birth, and in which the
plaintiff has had little to no meaningful interaction with the child during that time, it is
not in the child’s best interests to revoke the acknowledgment of parentage.
I, Larry S. Royster, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
April 17, 2015
t0414
Clerk