In Re Guardianship of Drrr

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 17, 2025
Docket372523
StatusPublished

This text of In Re Guardianship of Drrr (In Re Guardianship of Drrr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Guardianship of Drrr, (Mich. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

FOR PUBLICATION June 17, 2025 1:50 PM In re GUARDIANSHIP OF DRRR.

No. 372523 Macomb Probate Court Family Division LC No. 2024-247892-GM

Before: WALLACE, P.J., and RICK and GARRETT, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

In this case involving guardianship, DRRR’s guardian (appellant) appeals as of right the order denying appellant’s motion for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) determinations. We vacate the August 5, 2024 order of the probate court and exercise our discretion to make each finding pertinent to DRRR’s SIJ status by a preponderance of the evidence, and find that DRRR was born on May 25, 2006, in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, she is under 21 years old, and is an unmarried minor under the laws of the State of Michigan. We further find the following: (1) that DRRR was declared dependent on the State of Michigan, Macomb County Probate Court by virtue of guardianship proceedings, resulting in the appointment of her sister as her full legal guardian; (2) that DRRR’s reunification with her father is not viable due to neglect and abandonment, and reunification with her mother is not viable due to neglect; and (3) that DRRR’s best interests would not be served by returning to her country of origin, Guatemala.

I. BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Appellant is DRRR’s older sister. They share the same parents. Appellant filed a petition on January 18, 2024, seeking to become DRRR’s full guardian, as well as a request for the suspension of fees due to indigency. When the petition was filed, DRRR was 17 years old and still a minor. DRRR was born in Guatemala and came to the United States to live with appellant in October 2021. Appellant was provided a temporary power of attorney for DRRR by the Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (CRI). While in Guatemala, DRRR lived in poverty and frequently missed meals. She could not focus on her studies because she was working with her

-1- mother every day of the week. Their father was abusive to their mother and abandoned the family when DRRR was one or two years of age. Their mother was aware of the petition for guardianship.

On February 13, 2024, appellant filed a request for an interpreter, which the court granted the same day.1 After a hearing on April 16, 2024, the probate court found that (1) DRRR was unmarried; (2) DRRR was not living with a parent when the petition was filed; and (3) DRRR needed a guardian because her parent permitted her to reside with appellant, but did not provide appellant with legal authority over DRRR’s care and maintenance. The court granted the petition and appointed appellant as DRRR’s full guardian.

At the April 16, 2024 hearing, appellant’s attorney asked the court to also rule on her motion for special determinations on the issue of SIJ classification status; however, the court declined, indicating the motion could not be filed until after a determination was made on the petition for guardianship.2 Later that day, the court accepted the filing of appellant’s motion to make factual findings regarding DRRR’s SIJ classification and a hearing was scheduled for May 20, 2024, which was only five days before DRRR’s 18th birthday.

The May 20, 2024 hearing on appellant’s motion began as scheduled at 9:12 a.m. The court noted that there was no translator present and that appellant had not submitted the court’s form for requesting a translator for the hearing.3 Although a certified foreign language translator was not present at the hearing, appellant’s attorney had a person capable of translating present at the hearing, as permitted under MCR 1.111(F)(2), yet the trial court refused to accept her as a translator because she was not certified by the State Court Administrator’s Office (SCAO). Because the hearing had been noticed to occur that morning, the trial court gave appellant’s counsel until 11:30 a.m. to procure a certified interpreter. Appellant’s attorney then procured a SCAO- certified interpreter who could only appear via videoconferencing because she was located two hours away from the courthouse. Counsel informed the court’s clerk, but was subsequently told that the court would only allow an in-person interpreter.4 Counsel then contacted additional

1 The register of actions reflects that counsel for appellant submitted requests for an interpreter on the following dates, all of which were granted the same day they were requested: February 13, 2024; March 14, 2024; June 6, 2024; and July 11, 2024. As discussed below, after the court granted appellant’s request for an interpreter in the February 13, 2024 order, there was no need for appellant to make additional requests for an interpreter. The court was obligated by MCR 1.111(F)(1) to provide an interpreter until the proceedings were concluded. 2 Based upon the lower court record, it appears that appellant’s counsel attempted to file the motion in March, so that it could be heard immediately following the April 16, 2024 hearing, but the filing was rejected by the court. 3 Appellant reasonably expected that the court would provide a Spanish language interpreter for DRRR at this hearing because the court had provided an interpreter for prior hearings. 4 In an affidavit submitted to the trial court, appellant’s attorney claims to have witnessed the court, earlier in the day, conduct a hearing on another case in which an interpreter appeared by

-2- interpreters and procured an interpreter who could be present for the hearing in-person at 11:30 a.m. However, at approximately 11:27 a.m., appellant’s attorney was informed, without further explanation, that the court had adjourned the hearing to June 17, 2024, which was after DRRR’s 18th birthday. The court’s register of actions indicates that the June 17, 2024 hearing was subsequently adjourned to August 5, 2024.5

At the hearing on August 5, 2024, the trial court denied appellant’s motion, claiming it lacked jurisdiction over DRRR because she was 18 years old. Appellant moved for reconsideration on August 26, 2024, which the trial court denied. This appeal followed.

II. CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES

Appellant argues the trial court’s delay in the SIJ hearing violated DRRR’s procedural due process and equal protection rights. However, appellant raised the procedural due process challenge in her motion for reconsideration and her violation of equal protection challenge for the first time on appeal, making them unpreserved. See Vushaj v Farm Bureau Gen Ins Co of Mich, 284 Mich App 513, 519; 773 NW2d 758 (2009) (“Where an issue is first presented in a motion for reconsideration, it is not properly preserved.”), see also Glasker-Davis v Auvenshine, 333 Mich App 222, 227; 964 NW2d 809 (2020) (“[I]ssue preservation requirements only impose a general prohibition against raising an issue for the first time on appeal.”).

“In civil cases, Michigan follows ‘the raise or waive rule of appellate review.’ ” Tolas Oil & Gas Exploration Co v Bach Servs & Mfg, LLC, 347 Mich App 280, 289; 14 NW3d 472 (2023), quoting Walters v Nadell, 481 Mich 377, 387; 751 NW2d 431 (2008). “Under that rule, litigants must preserve an issue for appellate review.” Tolas Oil & Gas Exploration Co, 347 Mich App at 289. “If a litigant does not raise an issue in the trial court, this Court has no obligation to consider the issue.” Id. Because appellant failed to preserve her constitutional challenges, they are waived, and we will not address them. Id. In declining to consider these challenges we are also cognizant of the longstanding tenet that this Court will not unnecessarily decide constitutional issues, particularly when the case can be resolved on other grounds.

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Bluebook (online)
In Re Guardianship of Drrr, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-guardianship-of-drrr-michctapp-2025.