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Common Questions about Changing or Getting a Child Support Order
Contents
These are common questions about changing or getting a child support order.
Questions about Going to Court in a Child Support Case
Yes. A child support order can normally be changed until the child turns 18 (or 19½ when child support is ordered to that age). There are two ways you can ask for a change in child support. You can ask the Friend of the Court (FOC) to review your child support order. If the Friend of the Court thinks there is a reason to change support, it will ask the judge to change the order. You can also file a motion asking the judge to change the order. You can use our Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change or Get Child Support tool to do this.
If your child gets public benefits, the Friend of the Court will automatically review your support order once every 36 months. You also have the right to ask for a review once every 36 months. But you can ask more often if you can show that either parents' income or costs have changed since the court issued the current support order.
Either parent can file a motion to ask the court to change an existing child support order. You can use the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change or Get Child Support tool to prepare your motion. Examples of when you might file a motion are:
- When the parents informally change custody arrangements
- When either parent’s income changes
Child support isn’t automatically changed when parents change custody arrangements. The support amount is as stated in the most recent order until someone files a Motion Regarding Support and the judge signs an order changing the amount.
Past due child support amounts can't be retroactively modified. This means the court can’t change the amount of a child support payment after that payment is due. For this reason, it is important to file as quickly as possible if there is a reason to change child support.
To learn more about filing a motion to change child support, read Getting or Changing a Child Support Order.
You can use the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change or Get Child Support tool to prepare a Motion Regarding Support. File the motion in the same court as your family law case.
If you have a child support order from another state, you may want to talk to a lawyer or the local Friend of the Court office. You may be able to have your case transferred to Michigan, but you cannot use the Do-It-Yourself tool to transfer your case.
You can use the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change or Get Child Support tool if you have:
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A Michigan divorce, separate maintenance, paternity, custody or family support case and want to ask the court to start child support OR
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A child support order from an existing Michigan case and want to ask the court to change the amount of child support
Once you have your Motion Regarding Support form, date and sign it. Make several copies and take it to the court clerk’s office in the county where your family law case is located. The clerk will assign a hearing date and time for your motion. You must pay a filing fee or file a Fee Waiver Request if you cannot afford it.
Read the checklist in the I Need to Change or Get a Child Support Order toolkit. Be sure you follow all the steps in the process.
There will likely be a hearing in front of a judge or referee. At the hearing you and the other parent will each get to say why you think support should be established, changed, or left the same. Bring financial information to support what you are asking for, such as your most recent:
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Pay stubs, W-2s, and income tax returns
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Social Security statements (if you get disability)
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Bank statements
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Child care expenses
You may also bring witnesses who know about the financial or other changes.
The judge or referee may decide whether to start or change child support at or after the hearing. Or your motion may be referred to the Friend of the Court for an investigation and recommendation. You will have a chance to object to any recommendation before it becomes a court order.
You can file a Motion Regarding Support to ask the court to start child support if you have a family law case with no child support order.
You can file a Motion Regarding Support to ask the court to change the amount of child support if you have a family law case with a child support order. To do this, you must show the court there has been a change in circumstances that supports the change. Examples of a change in circumstances include:
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A change in either parent’s income
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An increase in the child’s needs
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A change in custody arrangements
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An increase in child care expenses
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A child has turned 18 and is no longer in high school
If you don’t have an existing case in family court, there are two different ways you can get a child support order, but filing a motion is not one of them. To learn what you can do, read Getting or Changing a Child Support Order.
To get the amount of child support changed, the moving party must show the judge there has been a change in circumstances that supports the change. Examples of a change in circumstances are:
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An change in either party’s income
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An increase in the child’s needs
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A change in custody arrangements
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An increase in child care expenses
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A child has turned 18 and is no longer in high school
A judge will only change support if they decide there has been a change in circumstances. If you get a Motion Regarding Support and don’t think there has been a change in circumstances, say that in your response.
Either parent can file a Motion Regarding Support in an existing family law case. The motion can ask the court to start child support if there is no child support order in the family law case. Or the motion can ask the court to change the amount of child support in a family law case with a child support order.
The parent who files the motion is the “moving party.” The moving party can be the Plaintiff or Defendant in the family law case. The moving party can be the person who pays child support or the person who gets it.
The Friend of the Court (FOC) is part of the family division of the circuit court. The FOC helps the court in cases involving custody, parenting time, and child support. Some of the duties the FOC performs are:
- Investigating and issuing recommendations about custody, parenting time, and child support
- Helping the parties settle disputes during and after their case
- Providing enforcement services on existing custody, parenting time, and support orders
To learn more, read Friend of the Court Overview.
If a Friend of the Court (FOC) referee issues a recommendation in your case and you do not file an objection within 21 days after you are served, the recommendation can become an order. However, the judge is not bound by a FOC recommendation and can choose not to make it an order.
You may be able to opt out of FOC services in your case if both you and the other party agree to opt out.
To learn more, read Friend of the Court Overview.
In general, you need to either submit a request for a support review with the Friend of the Court or file a motion with the court to change child support.
If the child or the parent receives public assistance, the Friend of the Court must review child support orders automatically once every 36 months.
In other cases, the Friend of the Court can conduct a child support review if you submit a request for one, but they can't do this more often than once every 36 months. Your Friend of the Court office should have a form you can use to submit a request for a support review. Sometimes this form can be found on the circuit court website.
If you can't get a Friend of the Court review, file a Motion Regarding Child Support instead. It is important to do this as soon as there is a reason for changing child support, because support can't be changed retroactively. This means that in general, once a payment is due, the amount owed can't be changed.
Yes. To get your court fees waived, you must file a Fee Waiver Request. This form tells the court that you can't afford to pay the fees in your case, and it asks for a waiver. You can use the Do-It-Yourself Fee Waiver tool to complete the affidavit.
If you are a person with a disability and have to go to court, you can ask the court to provide you with an accommodation so you can fully participate in the court activity.
To make your request, use the Do-It-Yourself Request for Accommodations tool and mail or deliver the form to the court administrator in the court where the activity will take place.
You should mail or deliver your Request for Accommodations as early as possible so the court can consider it and arrange for the accommodation(s) if it grants your request. If you don’t file your request before the court activity starts, but the activity is on-going (like a hearing that lasts more than a day), file your request as soon as you can.
Examples of accommodations that may be available are:
- Interpreter for people who are deaf (such as a sign language interpreter)
- Assistive listening device
- Handicap accessibility (such as use of a service animal)
- Other accommodations depending on your need
Each court has an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator. You can find your court’s ADA Coordinator using the Directories page of the Michigan Courts One Court of Justice website.
Questions about How Child Support Is Decided
Child support is a parent’s court-ordered payment to help with the costs of raising a child. Child support can be orderd in any family court case involving minor children and their parents, such as a divorce case or a custody case. To learn more, read Child Support in a Nutshell.
You can use the MiChildSupport Calculator on the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services website to find out what the support amount might be in your case.
Every case is different. Child support includes a base support amount. It can also include money for health care and child care costs. The amount of support comes from the Michigan Child Support Formula (MCSF). The formula is based on factors such as:
- The parents’ incomes
- The number of children
- Child care costs
- Health care costs
- The number of parenting time overnights the children have with each parent
The court must follow the MCSF unless it would be unfair or inappropriate to follow it. For more information about child support, read Child Support in a Nutshell.
Imputed income is an amount of money that a judge decides a parent can earn. It is not the amount the parent actually earns.
The judge may impute income if a parent is voluntarily unemployed or takes a voluntary pay cut. The amount of child support is then based on imputed rather than actual income.
Every child support order should include an amount for ordinary medical expenses. Ordinary medical expenses are costs for things not covered by insurance. Examples of these expenses are co-pays for office visits or prescriptions. Ordinary medical expenses don’t include things like vitamins, first aid supplies, or over-the-counter medicine.
Uninsured health care expenses in a calendar year that exceed the ordinary medical amount are called additional medical expenses. The parent who receives child support must provide proof of both the ordinary and additional medical expenses to ask the other parent to pay their percentage of additional medical expenses. This percentage should be filled in on the second page of the Uniform Child Support Order.
A child support order states how additional medical expenses get paid. These are costs for some of the things not covered by insurance. They are costs that exceed the ordinary medical expenses in a calendar year.
Usually each parent is ordered to pay a percentage of the additional medical expenses. The percentages are based on income. The parent who gets paid child support must document the expenses. The other parent can then be asked to pay their share.
A Uniform Child Support Order (UCSO) is a court order that shows how much child support a parent must pay. The UCSO requires the payer to pay a monthly amount for child support. The monthly amount can include:
- Base support,
- Medical costs, and
- Child care costs
To learn more, read Child Support in a Nutshell.
Yes. When a custodial parent lives apart from the other parent, and the custodial parent and/or the child gets public assistance, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) will probably seek a child support order. The child support you pay may go to the state instead of the other parent to help reimburse the state for the public assistance. Child support can’t be waived by the custodial parent in these cases.
Maybe. The court may order support for a child who is between 18 and 19½ if:
- The child is a full-time high school student and regularly attends school;
- The child has a reasonable expectation of graduating;
- The child lives full-time with the person getting child support, or at an institution.
The child support order must include a specific end date for support, regardless of the child’s actual graduation date.
Child support normally stops when a child turns 18. However, a court may order support for a child who is between 18 and 19 ½ if the child:
- Attends high school full-time,
- Has a reasonable expectation of graduating, and
- Lives full-time with the parent who gets child support or at an institution
The court may order one or both parents to provide health insurance for the child. The court will require each parent to keep the Friend of the Court informed of health care coverage that is available as a benefit of employment, or that either party buys directly from an insurer.
Maybe. If you receive SSD, your dependent children may be able to get SSD dependent benefits. Consider applying for SSD dependent benefits on behalf of your children. How much your children get depends on your earnings record. The court will count your children’s SSD benefits towards payment of your child support obligation. The court may also order you to pay some additional child support. Usually, you will only be ordered to pay additional money if the dependent benefit your children get is less than the amount of child support that should be paid.
If your children start getting dependent benefits after the initial child support order is entered, you can file a motion to change child support to make sure you are being credited for the benefits.
It depends. If your only income is SSI, you can’t be required to pay child support. The Michigan Child Support Formula specifically says that SSI is not counted as income. Tell the judge if you get SSI. Get a statement from the Social Security Administration stating that you get SSI and bring it to court. If you were ordered to pay child support before you started getting SSI, you can file a motion to have it changed. Use the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change or Get Child Support tool to prepare a motion.
Yes. Children have the legal right to be financially supported by both parents. A parent can’t avoid paying child support by giving up custody or parenting time rights.
Even if you voluntarily gave up your parental rights, or if your parental rights were involuntarily terminated, it is possible that you would still be required to pay child support.
Questions about Enforcing and Collecting Child Support
In general, the Michigan State Disbursement Unit (MiSDU) collects and pays out child support payments. In most cases, child support payments are automatically taken from the payer’s wages through income withholding. MiSDU then forwards the payments to the payee. Both the payer and the payee get a copy of the income withholding order if support is paid this way.
Sometimes income withholding is not possible because the payer is self-employed or for other reasons. Then the payer must make payments directly to MiSDU. Sometimes the parties agree to a different payment arrangement. However, if payments are not made through MiSDU, the payer won’t automatically get credit for the payments. The payee must let the Friend of the Court know they received the payments.
Child support orders can be enforced whether the order is ex parte, temporary, final, or a modification of a previous order. Enforcement methods include:
- Withholding income from a payer’s wages
- Placing liens on real or personal property
- Garnishing state and federal tax refunds
- Suspending driving, occupational, sporting, and recreational licenses
- Court proceedings to hold the payer in contempt of court
Some of these methods may only be used for collecting past due support payments.
If child support payments are not made, the other parent or the court can schedule a hearing to show cause. The Friend of the Court (FOC) starts most actions to enforce support. If the court finds that the payer could pay some or all of the amount owed, the payer can be held in contempt of court. Penalties for contempt include any of the enforcement methods listed above as well as fines and jail time.
No. Parenting time can't be limited to enforce child support.