The court won’t help, and my ex-spouse owes thousands in child support. You can get help by presenting a petition to the court. Get a contempt order against the payer. Get your ex-spouse cited for disobeying the court’s directive. This failure to pay support may constitute a crime. The court may issue a show cause order or impose penalties.
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The court serves the parties in question. Notify them of the order. What if the parties don’t have known addresses? In these cases, you leave with the impression that the court is doing nothing. If the court is unable to locate the persons in question, it is not their fault. If the parties implicated are unable to pay child support, it is not the court’s fault.
How is child support enforced?
The non-custodial parent isn’t paying. The individual ordered to pay is behind on their payments known as arrearages. The court has some options available if you already have a child support order.
The Michigan Department of Human Services, Friend of the Court offers child support enforcement services in Michigan. File an action against the person ordered to pay child support. An identical action can be started by the Friend of the Court office. According to state law, the court may make an order after finding a payer in contempt of court. The order accomplishes one or more of the following:
[a] Withdraw funds from your paycheck or other sources of income.
[b] Place liens on your home or other property you own.
[c] Claim your refund from your state and federal taxes.
[d] Restrict your licenses to drive, work, and engage in recreational activities.
[e] Passport or passport applications being turned down or being revoked
[f] Start a contempt case that might result in fines, jail time, and other penalties.
The Friend of the Court may recommend a matter to the county prosecutor. The prosecutor can then file a criminal non-support charge against the support-due party. It is filed after earlier attempts to collect child support have failed. Also, custodial parents may request criminal non-support prosecution from the county prosecutor.
A contempt hearing can be scheduled by the court. This can happen if a predetermined amount of arrearages has accumulated. The payer can be found in contempt if the court determines that they are capable of paying all or part of the debt. The court can impose any or a combination of sanctions mentioned above.
Why wont the court help?
You filed for child support. You gave your spouse a hard time seeing the kids just to send a message about support. Now you can’t find your co-parent. Child support payment stops. You ask the court for help. The wheels of the law turned. Nothing happens.
Two challenges the court cannot face on its own:
[ 1 ] The paying parent of child support cannot be located and hence cannot be served with notices.
The court cannot bring the parent with arrears if they could not locate the parent. Notices have to be sent and duly received before the next legal action can be taken. The court can issue appropriate orders. If the subject of these orders cannot be served they could not enforce it. This is the same as serving warrants of arrests for criminals at large. You can’t arrest criminals (or erring non-paying parents) if you can’t find them.
The court itself does not have the resources to go around chasing erring parents. They don’t chase criminals either. There’s law enforcement. The job of the courts is to hear legal issues. The court resolves them by translating the intent of the law. Enforcing the law is not the court’s job.
This lack of understanding of the judicial system and law enforcement creates wrong impressions. The court is perceived as unable to do anything. They appear to be not helping. The courts are functioning exactly as they were created. There’s only so much that the law allows them. The law on divorce, child custody, and support are all designed to serve all parties. It is even focused and biased on protecting children.
[ 2 ] The paying parent of child support does not have the means to support himself or herself. The paying parent of the child cannot find the means to earn enough to pay for child support.
Courts can punish parents who don’t pay child support. It does not send parents to jail as the first option to punish them. They know incarceration diminishes their ability to earn a living. It compromises the ability to provide child support.
Loss of income or even a job is a temporary setback. The court can rule on delaying payment of child support. Put the support payments off for a specified amount of time. It means suspending them. They are unaltered. If required, the support payment amount may also be reduced. Child support can resume once income is regained.
If parents have a job loss, they should let the court and the recipient parent know. Tell the parent in charge of your children’s care as quickly as possible. The fact the loss of a job has been documented may be useful in requesting a change of support order later.
What can I do to help enforce support?
The first step will be to get a court order establishing child support. Your co-parent isn’t carrying out that support responsibility. Once you have an order in your possession, you can enforce it. You can collect the debt using both federal and state tools and resources.
You need to know where your co-parent is. There’s still a need to serve notices to your co-parent. Your co-parent is supposed to be given a chance to explain the failure to pay child support. The court needs to know if the co-parent is employed. Notices must be served to the employer too.
Your relationship with your co-parent is not doing so well. You probably denied the co-parent visitation. Your co-parent has no motivation or inspiration to work. Your co-parent is now frustrated with you. Your co-parent doesn’t mind being fined or jailed for not paying child support. Your co-parent isn’t seeing the children anyway. Might as well be in jail.
You can try a low-conflict least expensive way of ensuring child support.
[ 1 ] Follow the parenting time order. The court ordered it. You went along and agreed with it. Go follow the parenting time schedule with your co-parent.
[ 2 ] Cultivate amicable relations with your co-parent. You need to do it anyway to preserve the bond between your co-parent and the children.
[ 3 ] Establishing the relationship guarantees you know the whereabouts of the co-parent. It allows you to know your co-parent’s circumstances. You get to know how your co-parent is living and earning.
[ 4 ] The relationship you cultivate helps you in the long term. You have another person obligated to share the responsibility of parenting.
The above suggestion works if your co-parent is still around or still in Michigan.
Your co-parent leaves and doesn’t even inform you. Now, this is the challenging part. You can’t send your co-parent notification if you don’t have an address. This is where the resource of the state can help.
You can approach the Friend of the Court or FOC for help on support enforcement. It will use all the methods of collection at its disposal. When all else fails, FOC will move for felony charges.
A Friend of the Court may report the matter to the county prosecutor. The county prosecutor can then file a criminal non-support charge against your co-parent. The case can be forwarded to the Attorney General for felony non-support prosecution. Felony non-support charges are brought if earlier attempts at collecting support fail. Custodial parents have the right to request felony non-support prosecution. It can be requested from the county prosecutor or Attorney General.
You need to locate your co-parent first before you can do anything. There’s another resource that the FOC can help you with. It’s the Uniform Federal Family Support Act. Ask FOC or your attorney about it.
The Uniform Federal Family Support Act allows the support order to be enforced in any other U.S. state. It can do so even if the non-custodial parent relocates outside of Michigan. The federal government offers a Federal Parent Locator Service. You can find a parent using this federal service. The service is available only to authorized government agencies. This is the part where FOC can help. You can’t use this directly as a citizen. You need to go through a government agency or entity.
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Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.