In Re Zervos Minor

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 13, 2026
Docket377240
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re Zervos Minor (In Re Zervos Minor) 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 Zervos Minor, (Mich. Ct. App. 2026).

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

UNPUBLISHED April 13, 2026 12:08 PM In re ZERVOS, Minors.

No. 377240 Wayne Circuit Court Family Division LC No. 2023-000726-NA

Before: KOROBKIN, P.J., and YOUNG and BAZZI, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Respondent appeals by right the trial court’s July 29, 2025 order terminating his parental rights to his minor children CAZ and MAZ under MCL 712A.19b(3)(b)(i) (child’s sibling has suffered physical injury or physical or sexual abuse caused by parent and there is a reasonable likelihood that the child will suffer injury or abuse in foreseeable future if returned to parent’s home), (j) (reasonable likelihood the child will be harmed if placed in parent’s home), (k)(ii) (parent engaged in sexual conduct with the child’s sibling that involved penetration, attempted penetration, or assault with intent to penetrate and there is a reasonable likelihood that the child will be harmed if returned to parent’s care), and (k)(ix) (parent sexually abused the child’s sibling and there is a reasonable likelihood that the child will be harmed if returned to parent’s care). On appeal, respondent argues that the trial court erred in finding that there was sufficient evidence to establish jurisdiction over CAZ and MAZ, that there were statutory grounds to terminate respondent’s parental rights, and that termination was in the children’s best interests. For the reasons that follow, we detect no clear error in the trial court’s determinations as to jurisdiction and statutory grounds for termination, but we conclude that further proceedings are required for the trial court to complete its best-interest analysis. We therefore vacate the trial court’s termination order and remand.

I. BACKGROUND AND FACTS

This case concerns the trial court’s termination of respondent’s parental rights to CAZ and MAZ, his biological and legal children, due to his abuse of JFS, his biological, but not legal, daughter.

-1- In February 2023, JFS reported being punched by respondent. After further investigation, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) filed a permanent custody petition in May 2023 seeking termination of respondent’s parental rights to CAZ and MAZ, citing respondent’s sexual abuse of JFS. On May 12, 2023, the trial court held a preliminary hearing during which, among other allegations, Children’s Protective Services Investigator Megan Wonsack reported that respondent and his girlfriend at the time had repeatedly sexually abused JFS anally, orally, digitally, and vaginally, that respondent showed JFS child pornography, and that respondent supplied JFS drugs, including cocaine, suboxone, and marijuana. At the time of the hearing, respondent was incarcerated for charges related to his abuse of JFS. The trial court’s order following the preliminary hearing authorized the petition and, finding CAZ and MAZ at risk in respondent’s care due to respondent’s sexual abuse of JFS, released CAZ and MAZ into the care of their nonrespondent mother.

On January 26, 2024, the trial court held a hearing during which JFS testified about the nature and extent of the abuse she suffered from respondent and his girlfriend over the course of about four years. JFS explained how respondent performed vaginal, anal, and oral sex on her, directed her to send him nude photographs of herself performing various sexual acts, provided JFS access to several videos of himself masturbating, and showed her child pornography. JFS additionally stated that respondent had attempted to groom young children living across the street from him and directed JFS to support that effort. JFS also explained that respondent supplied her cocaine, vodka, and THC1 and punched her on at least one occasion. Wonsack testified that termination of respondent’s parental rights was in CAZ’s and MAZ’s best interests, despite their placement with their nonrespondent mother, because there was a risk of harm if respondent could eventually have contact with CAZ and MAZ.

The trial court exercised jurisdiction over CAZ and MAZ “based on the sexual abuse allegations regarding” JFS, but declined to terminate respondent’s parental rights. The trial court concluded that “[w]ithout any testimony of why it was in [CAZ’s and MAZ’s] best interests for” respondent’s parental rights to be terminated, it could not find that it was in their best interests. The trial court’s order did not explore the statutory grounds for termination, but the box for “there are no statutory grounds to exercise jurisdiction over the child(ren)” was checked.

DHHS appealed the decision, and this Court concluded that the trial court had “erred by proceeding directly to the best-interests analysis without first determining whether a statutory ground for termination existed under MCL 712A.19b(3).” In re Zervos, unpublished per curiam opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued June 12, 2025 (Docket No. 369873), p 1. This Court therefore vacated the trial court’s order and remanded for further proceedings as follows: On remand, the court must determine whether petitioner established a statutory ground for termination under MCL 712A.19b(3). If it finds such a ground, the court must then consider whether termination is in the best interests of the children, giving appropriate weight to the doctrine of anticipatory neglect and respondent’s treatment of JFS. See, e.g., In re Mota, 334 Mich App 300, 323; 964 NW2d 881 (2020) (rejecting the respondent’s “pseudo-psychological argument” that he was

1 “Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the physiologically active component of marijuana.” People v Koon, 494 Mich 1, 3 n 3; 832 NW2d 724 (2013).

-2- not a danger to boys, emphasizing that “abuse is abuse”). [In re Zervos, unpub op at 1-2.]

On remand, in a hearing held on July 18, 2025, the trial court explained that in light of this Court’s decision, it would “reverse itself, and that based upon the sexual abuse of the daughter, JFS, and under the doctrine of anticipatory neglect,” it found statutory grounds for termination under MCL 712A.19b(3)(b)(i), (j), (k)(ii), and (k)(ix). The trial court went on to state that, on the basis of those statutory grounds, respondent’s parental rights were being terminated. The trial court did not state a finding that termination was in the best interests of CAZ and MAZ.

In its written order issued on July 29, 2025, the trial court incorporated by reference its findings of fact and the testimony at the January 2024 hearing2 and additionally found “that anticipatory neglect is a factor which should have been considered in this matter,” “[t]hat the sexual abuse by respondent . . . of one child can be used as basis for anticipatory neglect of” respondent’s other children, and “[t]hat the sexual abuse puts [CAZ and MAZ] at risk of abuse by” respondent. The court thus found that CAZ and MAZ were “without proper care and custody pursuant to” MCL 712A.2(b)(1) and (2),3 that there were statutory grounds for termination under MCL 712A.19b(3)(b)(i), (j), (k)(ii), and (k)(ix), and that it was in CAZ’s and MAZ’s best interests for respondent’s parental rights to be terminated. The court therefore terminated respondent’s parental rights to CAZ and MAZ. This appeal followed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review a trial “court’s decision to exercise jurisdiction . . . for clear error in light of [its] finding[s] of fact.” In re Kellogg, 331 Mich App 249, 253; 952 NW2d 544 (2020) (quotation marks and citation omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
In Re Zervos Minor, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-zervos-minor-michctapp-2026.