Fletcher v. Fletcher

In Fletcher v. Fletcher, 447 Mich 871; 526 NW2d 889 (1994), a majority of the Michigan Supreme Court held that a party's extramarital relationship may not always be relevant to a trial court's evaluation of factor (f). However, the Court did not rule that a party's extramarital relationship may never be relevant to factor (f). As the Court explained: Extramarital relations are not necessarily a reliable indicator of how one will function within the parent-child relationship. While such conduct certainly has a bearing on one's spousal fitness, it need not be probative of how one will interact with or raise a child. Because of its limited probative value and the significant potential for prejudicially ascribing disproportionate weight to that fact, extramarital conduct, in and of itself, may not be relevant to factor f. Fletcher, supra at 887.