It is distressing to see someone incur a substantial arrearage simply because they waited a long time before contacting the court.
This can seem unfair if one of the parties marries someone with a significant income, but courts are reluctant to deviate from the child support guidelines for this reason. Michigan courts are permitted to impute income to a party if they have quit their job or reduce their income to avoid paying child support. Income can also be imputed to the recipient of child support if they are not earning to their full capacity. With the ease and availability of electronic banking, the days of checks being mailed to and from the Friend of the Court are long gone.
Under Federal law, child support must be administered by a statewide system. If the payer earns a paycheck, the child support is withheld from their paycheck and sent directly to MiSDU.
The MiSDU system is online, allowing both parties to review all information regarding their account. However, even with the statewide payment system, if a party has a problem with their child support, they must go through the Friend of the Court. However, it is an all or nothing decision. Therefore, they will have no recourse if they have disputes related to the child support, parenting time and child custody. When the case is in court, the parties have subpoena power and can subpoena payroll records directly from an employer.
However, cases become significantly more complicated if one of the parties owns their own business. The Michigan child support guidelines deal directly with some of the issues of the business owner, including adding deductions like depreciation which is a tax benefit, but is not an actual expenditure and expenses such as auto lease payments as income to the business owner.
Many cases involving business owners can be resolved by reviewing their tax returns and adding these expenses and deductions as income. Parents in Michigan have a legal responsibility to provide for their children financially. This is true regardless of how much the parent sees the children, if at all, or otherwise contributes to their health and welfare.
A man who doubts his biological paternity can petition the court to challenge his legal status. Paternity may be established voluntarily between non-married parents by signing a paternity affidavit or acknowledgment of parentage, by obtaining genetic testing, or by court order.
Generally, a parent cannot escape his or her legal liability for financial support by giving up visitation or custody rights.
Absent court order or adoption, parents have a continuing obligation to pay child support. The custodial parent continues to receive the MDHHS benefits, and child support is paid to the state.
If a Friend of the Court worker is calculating child support for you, provide this information to them. Your child may get a dependent benefit based on the earnings record of a parent, such as SSD dependent benefits, retirement, survivor's, or any other benefits from a government insurance program like Social Security, Veteran's Administration, or Railroad Retirement. The amount of the benefit will be credited to the payer when calculating child support.
Usually, the payer will only be ordered to pay additional money if the amount of SSD or other type of benefit the child gets is less than the amount of child support that should be paid. If the child begins to receive dependent benefits after the initial child support order is entered, the payer can file a motion to change child support to make sure the dependent benefit credit is applied.
The Friend of the Court automatically reviews child support orders once every 36 months if the child or custodial parent gets public assistance. The FOC also reviews a child support order if a party makes a written request for a review. Either parent can file a motion asking the judge to change child support. Child support will still be charged to the payer as stated in the most recent order. It won't change until someone files a Motion Regarding Support and the judge signs an order changing the amount.
When a parent changes jobs, that person could end up making more or less money. In both of these situations one of the parties should quickly file a motion to change support. Past due child support amounts normally cannot be changed retroactively. This means the judge cannot change the amount of a child support payment after that payment is due. You might decide you want a lawyer to help you with your case. If you have low income, you may qualify for free legal services. Whether you have low income or not, you can use the Guide to Legal Help to find lawyers in your area.
This is called limited scope representation. To find a limited scope attorney directly, you can:. Call the State Bar of Michigan Lawyer Referral Service and tell them you are looking for limited scope representation;. Enter the type of lawyer you need divorce, bankruptcy, etc. The base support number is then adjusted depending on the amount of health insurance premiums paid for the benefit of the child and any child care expenses either party pays.
The base support, adjusted for health care costs and child care expenses, will provide the total child support obligation a parent has to pay. By using net income, the goal is to determine how much money is available for support of the child. Income is not limited strictly to wages, but can also include earnings generated from a business, partnership, rentals, distributed profits from retirement accounts, and any money or income due or owed by another individual.
Income can also include market value of any perquisites received if they reduce personal expenses, have significant value or are received regularly. Certain expenses can also be deducted from income as well. When determining income, a commonly contested issue is potential income when a party is unemployed, underemployed, or has an unexercised ability to earn income. Under the Michigan Child Support Formula, when applying the formula would lead to an unjust or inappropriate result, the court could deviate from the formula and determine a more appropriate amount.
To deviate, the court must state its reasons that the formula produces an unjust or inappropriate amount and is guided by specific deviation factors listed in the child support manual which includes any other factor deemed relevant to the best interests of the child. This gives a court the ability to deviate where necessary, however simply trying to deviate because you disagree with the policies embodied in the formula is not allowed.
The court also can order either of the parties to provide health insurance for a minor child which includes payment for hospital, dental, optical and other health-care expenses when the coverage is available at a reasonable cost. Regarding uninsured health-care expenses, the formula presumes that a person will spend a certain amount per child per year on ordinary medical expenses. When uninsured health-care expenses exceed that annual ordinary medical amount, those extraordinary expenses are apportioned between the parties based on their incomes.
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