Sec. 6. (1) This act is equitable in nature and shall be liberally construed and applied to establish promptly the rights of the child and the rights and duties of the parties involved. This act applies to all circuit court child custody disputes and actions, whether original or incidental to other actions. Those disputes and actions shall have precedence for hearing and assignment for trial over other civil actions. (2) Except as otherwise provided in section 6b or 6e, if the circuit court of this state does not have prior continuing jurisdiction over a child, the action shall be submitted to the circuit court of the county where the child resides or may be found by complaint or complaint and motion for order to show cause. An application for a writ of habeas corpus or for a warrant in its place to obtain custody of a child shall not be granted unless it appears that this act is inadequate and ineffective to resolve the particular child custody dispute.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.26
Liberal construction and application of act; purpose; provisions applicable to child custody disputes and actions; precedence of other actions; submission of action; habeas corpus or warrant
Applied in 45 court decisions — leading case Heniser v. Frankenmuth Mutual Insurance (1995)
Most recently applied in 324 Mich. App. 251 - Anita L Sheardown v. Janine Guastella (May 2018)
1970, Act 91, Eff
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Michigan Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Michigan statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.