Child Support Arrears
While married, the parents of a child share the physical and financial burden of caring for that child. Once separated, however, the parent who has physical custody no longer has the resources of the other parent to help them. Child support is a payment ordered by the court to help remedy that situation and ensure that the non-custodial parent is living up to their responsibility to support their child. But sometimes these payments might be missed and debt occurs. This is called child support arrears when an individual misses a child support payment. In this blog, we will be going over what child support arrears are in Michigan and how they can affect you.
What Are Arrears?
Like with many other financial obligations, sometimes child support payments are missed or insufficient. Family courts have processes for dealing with these missed or overdue payments in order to ensure that the obligation is met to the greatest extent possible. Arrears or arrearage is the technical term for past due to child support. Basically, it is a debt you owe to either your former spouse or to the government.
There may be a possibility where you will have to pay the government if you miss child support payments. This might occur if you received public assistance from the government while you had child support obligations. It can also happen if your child’s household receives public assistance. The rationale behind it is that you should be covering those expenses as the parent paying support, not the state government.
What If I Don’t Pay My Arrears?
Unpaid arrears can result in a number of unpleasant consequences such as:
- Withholding money from your paycheck
- Liens on personal possessions and real estate
- Garnishing your tax returns
- Suspension of state-issued drivers, occupational, and recreational (hunting/fishing) licenses Revocation or denial of your passport
- Getting charged with contempt resulting in imprisonment and further fines
If you cannot pay your debt off you will have two options. You can ask for forgiveness (discharge) of your debt, or you can ask for a payment plan. There is no method for completely erasing the overdue child support that you owe the other parent. The best thing to do is talk to an attorney and figure out the best step that you can take.
What does discharge entail?
You may only seek discharge debts owed to the state. If you are granted a discharge, it will erase your arrearage debt completely. You must file your request with the Friend of the Court (FOC) of the county that granted the support order in the first place. In your request, you must explain why you had a good reason to not pay or how you are unable to pay.
If you owe back child support in multiple counties, you will have to file separate requests in each of those FOC offices. The FOC office(s) will decide whether or not to discharge the debts. If you also owe money to your spouse, then you must get a payment plan. Under a payment plan, the court will allow you to pay back a certain amount per month for a number of months. In the end, you will pay less than the full amount owed and the rest will be discharged. If you owe debt to a spouse, you must obtain their voluntary consent in order to engage in a payment plan.
Conclusion
Being in debt is never easy but there are always solutions. Child support arrears can impact your life so contact Goldman and Associates today to learn more about your case and what you can do for yourself and the situation you may be in. . If you need more information on Divorce in The State of Michigan contact Goldman and Associates Law Firm. At Goldman and Associates, our attorneys are experts in family law and they will thoroughly examine all aspects of your divorce. With the best lawyers in Michigan, Goldman and Associates takes each and every case very seriously and gives you the outcome you desire.
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