Child support is based primarily on the incomes of both parties and the number of overnights each party spends with the children. There are other credits that can be included such as the health insurance premiums a parent pays for the children; child care paid (for work or school); exemptions claimed by a parent and tax filing status.
The court will follow the child support guidelines unless the parties agree otherwise. If the parties agree to deviate from the guidelines and have a different amount of support paid, other than what the guidelines recommend, they can do so.
Spousal support (referred to as Alimony) is intended to assist one spouse financially when incomes are disproportionate and the marriage is fairly long. There are guidelines to assist with calculating the amount of spousal support, but the Court must consider the 11 factors when deciding the amount of spousal support to award to one spouse.
Modification of Support. Support can only be modified upon petition to the Court or by submitting a new Support Order by consent to the Court. Payors are often under the mistaken belief that a job loss or change in income will trigger the Court to act and modify support. This is not the case. If you have a change in income or an increase in overnights, then you must file a petition with the court to modify your child support. The Court will only modify support from the date of the motion, not back to the change in events.
Collection of Payment. Support can be paid through the Friend of the Court (FOC) and the Michigan Support Disbursement Unit (MiSDU). They collect the support from the payor (usually through an income withholding order from the paycheck) and send it to the recipient of support. The FOC also tracks support owed and support paid.
The parties may also agree to opt out of having the FOC and MiSDU collect and distribute support and simply exchange payments between them. This requires additional forms which explain the agreement to the Court of the decision not to use FOC.
