The grievance procedure is the first (and most important) [...]]]> Many people are unaware of the grievance procedure.  Not only do they not know the rules that the friend of the court needs to follow, many people are also unaware of what they need to do when the friend of the court doesn’t follow those rules.

The grievance procedure is the first (and most important) step in holding the friend of the court accountable.  The procedure comes from the state laws that govern the operations of the friend of the court.  And while there are many rules that the friend of the court needs to follow, the most fundamental of those rules can be found in Michigan’s Friend of the Court Act.  This Act contains the combination of laws that form the basis for the creation and operation of the friend of the court, and it outlines a number of their responsibilities.

The statute for the grievance procedure provides certain steps that people need to follow when the friend of the court doesn’t do their job.  It can be found by clicking here:  MCL 552.526.

It also is not very well known that people can file a grievance just by sending in a regular letter with the word “grievance” clearly written on it to their friend of the court.

More formally though, you can download a copy of a grievance form from the State Court Administrator’s website too.  It’s called form FOC1a, and you can get a copy here:  FOC Grievance Form (it’s in PDF format, and you can right-click the link and save the file too).

Finally, some people have this wacky idea that once a grievance is filed, it becomes this super-secret document that nobody has access to…  Well, kind-of.  But, that’s not totally the case.

Sure, there are some privacy protections put in place to make sure that grievances stay somewhat confidential — for example, grievances can’t be requested using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  However, the rules for grievances mainly apply to how the friend of the court handles them.

In reality, a grievance is yours.  And for that matter, so is the grievance response that you get from the friend of the court.  And what you choose to do with these documents, even after they’re filed with the friend of the court, remains up to you.

So, if you want to start seeing the friend of the court held more accountable, we not only encourage you to file grievances — we also encourage you to come up with ways of getting those grievances (and their responses) into the hands of anyone who can help to make the friend of the court more accountable too.

So make sure you send us copies!  Make sure you put them in your public file at the court!  Send copies to your county commissioners, state legislators, and any/every other decision maker!  Send copies to your local newspaper with a “letter to the editor” explaining what happened…  You get the point, I’m sure.