A long distance parenting plan Michigan families use is a court-approved schedule that concentrates parenting time into school breaks, holidays, and extended summer blocks while adding virtual visitation between visits. Michigan courts grant it under the Child Custody Act, Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.27a, guided by the child's best interests in Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.23. Filing costs $175 without children or $255 with children.
Key Facts: Long-Distance Parenting in Michigan (2026)
| Item | Michigan Rule |
|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $175 without minor children; $255 with minor children (Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.2529). As of August 2026. Verify with your local clerk. |
| Waiting Period | 60 days with no minor children; 180 days (6 months) with minor children, reducible to 60 days only for unusual hardship |
| Residency Requirement | One spouse must live in Michigan 180 days and in the filing county 10 days before filing (Mich. Comp. Laws § 552.9) |
| Grounds | No-fault only: a breakdown of the marriage relationship with no reasonable likelihood of preservation (Mich. Comp. Laws § 552.6) |
| Property Division Type | Equitable distribution (fair, not automatically 50/50) |
| Custody Standard | 12 best-interests factors (Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.23) |
| Relocation Trigger | Moves over 100 miles or out of state require consent or court approval (Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.31) |
This 2026 guide explains how Michigan handles remote parenting when one parent lives far away, how to build a durable long distance parenting plan Michigan judges will approve, and how virtual visitation, travel-cost allocation, and the 100-mile rule fit together. Author: Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. (Florida Bar No. 21022, covering Michigan divorce law).
What Is a Long-Distance Parenting Plan in Michigan?
A long-distance parenting plan in Michigan is a written custody schedule designed for parents separated by roughly 100 miles or more, replacing frequent weekly exchanges with fewer, longer visits plus scheduled electronic contact. Michigan courts approve these plans under Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.27a, which directs that parenting time be granted in accordance with the child's best interests and expressly lets judges weigh the burden of travel on the child.
Unlike a standard alternating-weekend schedule, a remote parenting plan front-loads time into the school calendar: most or all of summer break, alternating spring and winter breaks, and long holiday weekends. Michigan's Child Custody Act of 1970, codified at Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.27a, creates a presumption that a child benefits from a strong relationship with both parents, so distance alone does not cut off the out of state parent. Instead, the plan is engineered so the parenting-time hours a nearby parent gets across 26 weekends are delivered in three or four concentrated blocks per year. Understanding Michigan child custody arrangements is the first step before you draft one. A well-built plan states exact pickup dates, travel logistics, who pays for flights, and a virtual visitation schedule so nothing is left to argument later.
How Michigan Courts Decide Custody at a Distance
Michigan courts decide every custody and parenting-time question using the 12 best-interests factors in Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.23, and no single factor about distance is automatically decisive. Judges evaluate emotional ties, each parent's capacity to provide guidance, the stability of each home, and the child's established environment, then craft a schedule that preserves both relationships despite the miles.
When parents live far apart, three of the statutory factors carry extra weight. First, the permanence and stability of the existing custodial home matters, because Michigan values continuity for the child's schooling and community. Second, the willingness of each parent to encourage a close relationship with the other parent is scrutinized closely, since a long distance parenting plan Michigan judges approve depends on the local parent actively supporting FaceTime custody and travel. Third, under Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.27a, the court specifically considers the inconvenience and burdensome impact of travel on the child. A parent seeking substantial out-of-state time should come prepared with a concrete logistics plan, a proposed virtual visitation routine, and evidence of consistent involvement. Courts reward planning over promises. If you want a step-by-step path forward, build a personalized divorce roadmap tailored to your Michigan county and family situation.
The Michigan 100-Mile Rule and Out-of-State Moves
Under Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.31, a parent with a court-ordered custody arrangement cannot move a child's legal residence more than 100 miles from where it was at the time of the order, and cannot move out of Michigan at all, without the other parent's consent or court permission. This is Michigan's change-of-domicile rule, and it applies to both in-state relocations over 100 miles and any interstate move.
When a parent objects, the court holds a hearing and weighs five relocation factors drawn from the D'Onofrio line of cases and codified in Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.31(4): whether the move improves the quality of life for both child and relocating parent; whether each parent has honored the existing parenting-time order; whether a realistic modified schedule can preserve the out of state parent's relationship; whether the objecting parent's opposition is motivated by a desire to reduce child support; and whether domestic violence is present. There is an important exception. A parent who holds sole legal custody at the time of the request is not governed by the 100-mile rule, so the Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.31(4) factors do not apply to that move. If the move is approved, the court almost always builds a new long-distance schedule into the order so remote parenting continues rather than ends.
Building a Parenting Time Schedule Across State Lines
A workable interstate schedule in Michigan concentrates in-person time into large blocks, typically 6 to 9 weeks of summer, alternating winter and spring breaks, and one long weekend per month when travel distance allows, all approved under Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.27a. The goal is to match or exceed the total annual hours a local parent would receive, delivered in fewer, longer visits.
Start by counting hours, not days. A standard Michigan schedule granting alternating weekends plus one midweek dinner totals roughly 90 to 110 overnights a year; a long distance parenting plan Michigan courts accept should aim for a comparable annual total redistributed into breaks. Specify exact transfer dates tied to the child's school calendar so there is no ambiguity when the term ends. Address transportation directly: name the departure and arrival airports, decide whether an unaccompanied-minor service is used and at what age, and state who accompanies a young child. Use our parenting time calculator to compare how different block schedules affect each parent's annual overnight share. Michigan also restricts parenting time in any country that is not a party to the Hague Convention on international child abduction unless both parents agree in writing, so international travel provisions belong in the plan too. Finally, include a right-of-first-refusal clause and a make-up-time provision covering weather cancellations and illness.
Virtual Visitation and FaceTime Custody in Michigan
Michigan judges routinely incorporate virtual visitation, meaning scheduled video and phone contact, directly into parenting-time orders, using their broad authority under Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.27a to set the type and terms of parenting time. Michigan has no standalone virtual-visitation statute, so electronic communication is granted as a component of ordinary parenting time and enforced the same way.
Effective FaceTime custody provisions are specific. Rather than ordering vague reasonable phone contact, a strong long-distance order sets recurring video calls on named days and times, for example a 20-to-30-minute video call every Tuesday and Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the child's time zone, plus open-ended texting for older children. The order should require the local parent to make the child available, keep the child's device charged, and avoid interrupting or monitoring the calls beyond what a young child needs. Virtual visitation supplements in-person time; it never replaces it, and Michigan courts treat it as a bridge between visits, not a substitute for the block schedule. Because a violated video-call schedule is enforceable through the Friend of the Court, spelling out frequency, duration, and platform protects the remote parent. Reserve extra flexibility for special events, so the out of state parent can attend recitals or games by video when travel is not feasible. If a term in your order is unfamiliar, our parenting time glossary entry explains how Michigan defines it.
Travel Costs and Logistics in a Michigan Long-Distance Plan
Michigan courts allocate long-distance travel costs as part of the parenting-time order and often factor transportation expenses into the overall support picture, drawing on the same best-interests framework in Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.23. There is no fixed statewide formula, so allocation ranges from a straight 50/50 split to a proportional division based on each parent's income or on which parent's relocation created the distance.
Common Michigan approaches include splitting airfare equally, assigning the cost to the parent who moved away, or dividing expenses in proportion to income when there is a large earnings gap. Because remote parenting can add $2,000 to $6,000 or more per year in flights, gas, and unaccompanied-minor fees, the plan should state the cost-sharing method in writing, name who books travel, and set a deadline for reimbursement of the other parent's share. Address ground logistics too: who drives to and from the airport, where exchanges happen when a full flight is not needed, and how costs shift if the child's residence changes. Michigan judges expect a realistic budget, not aspirational figures, so document actual airline and mileage costs. Because travel expense allocation interacts with support obligations, run your numbers through our child support calculator before you propose figures, and keep receipts to support any later modification.
Filing, Fees, and Timeline for a Michigan Custody Case
Filing a Michigan divorce or custody case costs $175 without minor children and $255 with minor children under Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.2529, and the case cannot be finalized before the statutory waiting period ends. Cases with children carry a 180-day (roughly 6-month) waiting period; cases without children carry a 60-day period.
The $255 figure reflects the base civil filing fee plus electronic-filing and custody or parenting-time surcharges that apply when minor children are involved. As of August 2026, these amounts are set by statute, but you should verify the exact total with your local circuit court clerk because counties add administrative and motion fees. Michigan's 180-day waiting period for cases with children may be shortened to 60 days only on a showing of unusual hardship or compelling need, and the 60-day floor cannot be waived. To file, at least one spouse must have lived in Michigan for 180 days and in the filing county for 10 days, per Mich. Comp. Laws § 552.9. Fee waivers are available for filers who meet income-based hardship criteria. If your case is contested over relocation or a long-distance schedule, expect the timeline to extend well beyond the minimum as the court schedules a change-of-domicile hearing. When the stakes are high, it pays to find a divorce attorney who handles interstate custody in your county.
Enforcing and Modifying a Long-Distance Parenting Order
Michigan enforces parenting-time orders, including virtual visitation and travel provisions, through the Friend of the Court, and either parent can move to modify the order when circumstances change, subject to the best-interests standard in Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.23. Denied parenting time can trigger make-up time, fines, or other remedies, so a precise long-distance order is far easier to enforce than a vague one.
To change custody or a parenting-time schedule, the moving parent must generally show proper cause or a change of circumstances since the last order, and if the change would alter the child's established custodial environment, a higher clear-and-convincing evidentiary standard applies. This matters in remote-parenting cases because a proposed move over 100 miles or out of state under Mich. Comp. Laws § 722.31 usually prompts both a relocation analysis and a fresh parenting-time schedule at once. Document everything: keep a log of missed video calls, canceled visits, and travel-cost reimbursements, because Michigan judges act on evidence, not accusations. If the other parent repeatedly frustrates FaceTime custody or refuses to make the child available for scheduled calls, file a motion promptly rather than letting a pattern harden. Building enforcement mechanics, make-up time, and a clear modification pathway into the original order gives the out of state parent real protection over the years the plan must last.