CHILD SUPPORT

Courts are responsive to the needs of the children and, therefore, when an action is commenced, the Court, if requested, will enter an order immediately requiring the non-custodial parent to pay child support to the custodial parent. The order provides that the non-custodial parent has fourteen (14) days after receipt of the order to object and set a hearing date for the Court to determine the appropriate amount of child support and that parent feels incorrect information was used to set support.

Child support is set according to the State of Michigan Child Support Guidelines and only in a rare set of circumstances will the Court deviate from that guideline. Child support is based upon three factors: (1) the income earned by the non-custodial parent; (2) the number of children; and (3) to a lesser extent, the amount of earnings of the custodial parent. Michigan law requires that a Court “order support in an amount determined by application of the Child Support formula…” It is in very rare cases that the Court will deviate from the Michigan Child Support formula. In setting support, the Court is required to include all income, including shift premiums, overtime, second jobs, commissions and bonuses. We will discuss at length the issue of child support, and we can review for you the actual child support formula.

Once a support order has been entered, the payor should pay all support to the Friend of the Court until such time as support is directly taken from the payor’s pay by a wage assignment. Currently all Courts require support to be paid through a wage assignment. The wage assignment occurs through the issuance of an income withholding order sent to the payor’s employer by the Friend of the Court. If the payor does not pay support after entry of the support order but before it is deducted from the paycheck, an arrearage will occur and the support will increase at approximately 20% (twenty percent) of the weekly amount ordered ($100.00 per week = $20.00) to be paid until there is no arrearage.

Some parties will be offered the chance to handle the payment directly without Friend of the Court involvement. This is a new concept. It may work for you and your spouse if each of you has the children’s interests above all other interests.

Child support shall continue until each minor child reaches eighteen (18) years of age, unless that child has not yet graduated from high school. In that case support shall continue until graduation, provided the child is regularly attending high school on a full time basis, with the reasonable expectation of graduation, while residing with the support payee on a full-time basis, but in no case after age 19.

CHILD SUPPORT & PARENTING TIME

Under the provisions entitled “Custody”, various forms of custody were discussed. It is important to know that according to the State of Michigan Uniform Child Support Guidelines, the number of overnights that a parent with the children annually, child support will be affected. In the simplest of situations, if two parents separate and live apart and each earn the same amount of money and each have the children one-half of the time, neither pays support. From that perspective, the concept seems relatively fair. However, in general, the parent who has less parenting time, will end up paying some form of child support. Accordingly, this can be a stumbling block that your attorney will discuss with you.

Too often we find parents believing they are acting in the best interests of their children by establishing some grandiose plan of when the children will be with each parent and fail to recognize the economic impact of their plan. On the one hand, social scientists will probably tell you that making sure that the children spend an equal amount of time with each parent is best for the children’s development, while the economist will tell you that if one parent is put in a financial dilemma, that parent will find it impossible to properly care for the children. Accordingly, making sure that the children are spending appropriate time with each parent and that the financial arrangement is one each parent can handle is critical to any good resolution.

The Friend of the Court office for each County has separate handbooks that you should receive as well, which can help you more fully understand both their role and issues relating to child support.

WHAT DOES CHILD SUPPORT COVER?

Other than uninsured health care and childcare expenses, all other costs of raising your children should be paid by the custodial parent, with the non-custodial parent’s share having already been paid by the child support.

This includes food, clothing, shelter, schooling, extra-curricular activities, toys, and entertainment. In those instances where there is some joint or shared parenting time arrangement, it is often difficult to find an agreement between the parties dealing with the expenses that are not unique to your own household, i.e., clothing, special activities, school, and entertainment. Unfortunately, there is no other option readily available that is frequently used.

There is no legal obligation for a parent to provide education beyond high school for their children. Accordingly, Courts make no provisions for college education or advanced training. Sometimes parents will work out an agreement as to the handling of the cost of higher education beyond high school. Parents should consider what they might have to give up to get a concession from the other parent to make a contribution to the education expenses of a child. Sometimes when you properly analyze what you must give up to get this concession, you realize it may not be worth it.

MEDICAL EXPENSES AND CHILD CARE

The usual requirement is that both parents maintain health care insurance coverage on the children that is available to them through their employment at a reasonable cost. In addition, parents will find that the Court requires that each parent contribute toward any uninsured health care expenses of the children on a pro rata basis determined by their respective earnings.

Also, a parent may be required to help pay for childcare expenses of the other parent. These expenses are typically calculated on a pro rata basis after calculation of the day care credit allowed by the Internal Revenue Service for contribution to any child care costs for any child eleven (11) years or under.

Furnishing your attorney with accurate information regarding your health care insurance carrier and costs, the name of the child care provider and the amount of child care being paid on an annual basis is critical to establishing the appropriate percentages and amounts to be paid by both parents.