4.01Nonparent-Custodians
4.01(A)When a nonparent has custody of a child, both parents should pay support. Determine each parent’s base support obligation according to that parent’s individual income.
4.01(B)Parents are responsible for all medical expenses, health care coverage premiums, and child care expenses for children in a nonparent-custodian's care. When possible, apportion those costs between the parents.
4.01(C)In determining a parent’s net income amount that will be used to calculate support for children in the care of a nonparent, treat the parents’ other children-in-common who are not in the nonparent’s custody as additional children from other relationships (§2.08(A)).
4.01(D)When a child is in a nonparent’s physical custody, calculate each parent’s support obligation for that child based only on that parent’s income, as follows:
(1)Determine each parent’s net income.
(2)Calculate each parent’s base support obligation separately by treating the other parent’s income as zero, and do not apply the Parental Time Offset Equation. (§1.04(E)(16) and §3.03(B))
(3)Calculate medical expense and child care support obligations and require payment from only the parents. When possible, divide them between the parents based on each parent’s percentage share of family income.
(4)Total a parent’s base support, ordinary medical expense, and child care obligations to determine that parent's total support obligation payable to the nonparent.
(5)Do not reduce a parent’s base support obligation paid to a nonparent-custodian for health care coverage premiums paid by a parent. Allocation of parent-paid premiums between the parents should be handled separately.
(6)If the nonparent-custodian purchases health care coverage for the children, add each parent’s share of the children’s net determinable portion of the premiums paid by the nonparent-custodian to that parent’s support payment.
4.02Incapacitated Parent
4.02(A)“Incapacitation” means the inability to pay the ordered support obligation caused by a parent being temporarily or permanently unable to earn an income that is due to disability, mental incompetency, serious injury, debilitating illness, or incarceration. Beyond the financial impacts, incapacitation often limits the parent’s ability to act in his or her own self-interests. At its onset, the exact duration and full impact of an incapacitating condition will often be uncertain.
(1)Due to the statutory restriction to retroactively modifying a final judgment or order, an action to modify support should start as soon as possible.
(2)Generally, the incapacitation should be expected to last 180 days or more. However, the court may exercise discretion and grant relief when the actual duration is less than 180 days. If the incapacitation is for 180 days or more and is based on incarceration, then MCL 552.517f applies.
(3)Often, a parent’s income does not immediately return to what it was before the parent became incapacitated.
(4)The court makes the final determination whether a parent is unable to earn an income or otherwise qualifies as incapacitated under this section.
4.02(B)The court may set an incapacitated payer’s (§4.02(A)) child support obligation at zero for periods that a parent has an inability to pay due to a loss of income and insufficient assets from which to pay support. In addition, the court may apportion a parent’s obligation percentage of medical support and childcare to zero if the payer is incapacitated.
4.02(C)The court should reduce the effect of the time needed to complete a review and avoid the bar on retroactive modification by including prospective language in support orders that abates support for periods when a payer is incapacitated.
4.02(D)It may take one or more years before a parent actually receives benefits or settles a lawsuit. Sometimes funds are paid retroactively to compensate the incapacitated parent for prior months when the parent was unable to work. When there is uncertainty regarding a future outcome or when the payer may receive retroactive compensation or benefits, the court may defer a final decision and preserve flexibility to set an appropriate amount for the period following notice to the parties by entering a temporary order that remains modifiable until uncertainty ends. Fisher v Fisher, 276 Mich App 424 (2007).
4.02(E)The supplement to this manual contains additional information on adjusting incapacitated parents’ obligations. (2025 MCSF-S 3.04).
4.03(A)State law requires that Michigan’s formula include guidelines to figure payments for overdue support, and when support for a child terminates and arrearages are owed.
MCL 552.519(3)(a)(vi).
(1)Federal law requires states to have procedures to increase the amount of payments to include amounts for arrearages. 42 U.S.C. 666(c)(1)(H).
(2)State law requires friend of the court offices to use the Arrearage Guideline in setting or adjusting arrearage payments. MCL 552.517e
(3)This Arrearage Guideline is not intended to interfere with the enforcement of past-due support and its collection through concurrent means that do not rely on regular payments.
(4)This Arrearage Guideline is not intended to interfere with judicial discretion to set fair and equitable repayment amounts that deviate from the Guideline.
4.03(B)Arrearage Payment Calculation
(1)Arrearages should be repaid as quickly as possible.
(2)If the entire arrearage cannot be paid immediately, the Arrearage Guideline should be used to set a repayment amount where support or fees are owed.
(3)Subject to (6)-(8) below, a monthly repayment amount is 2 percent of the total support arrearage at the time of the review, but not less than $50, nor more than half of the current support amount. Or, if no current support charge exists, then the monthly repayment amount is the last ordered charge amount.
(a)When applying the Guideline, any monies held or retained by the friend of the court office or the State Disbursement Unit as payment of past due child support should be subtracted from the amount of arrearage used to calculate the repayment amount.
(4)Payments set by this Guideline should be rounded to the nearest whole dollar amount.
(5)The monthly birth-related expense repayment amount (i.e., payment for current month, not past due amounts) should not be less than $25, nor more than the birth-related expenses’ pro-rata share of the total amount of birth-related and arrearages owed. Statutes, regulations, and other policy determine how these amounts will be distributed on a specific case.
(6)In order to repay arrearages as quickly as possible, the “total-payment-amount” (defined in §4.03(E)(4)) used for determining the repayment amount for collection must be the higher of: the most recent total-payment-amount, or the total-payment-amount presently figured using the arrearage payment calculation and current support charge.
(a)If the support charge is reduced because of a reduction in payer’s income always refigure the repayment amount using the arrearage payment calculation (§4.03(B)(3)) and the current support charge.
(7)If the most recent total-payment-amount is the payment amount chosen, the aggregate amount remains the same, but consists of a reduced support and an increased repayment amount (§4.03(B)(8)).
(8)Adjustment of Payments When Current Support Obligations Terminate
(a)If arrearages exist when a current support obligation terminates or is reduced for reasons other than a reduction in the payer’s income, there shall be no automatic reduction in the total-payment-amount unless ordered by the court.
(b)The reductions in the current support amount are added to the repayment amount and automatically become the new repayment amount.
(c)The total-payment-amount remains in effect until the arrearage has been paid in full or until modified or adjusted by the court or friend of the court.
4.03(C)Guideline Deviation and Exceptions
(1)When application of this Guideline creates an unjust or inappropriate result, deviation may occur and an alternate repayment amount may be established.
(2)The friend of the court office may deviate from the Guideline to increase the repayment amount if:
(a)there has been no other significant change in circumstances (e.g., different source of income, higher income, etc.);
(b)the payer has made all of the payments for the entire period since the repayment amount was set; and
(c)the arrearage has nevertheless increased by an amount greater than one month’s current support obligation solely because surcharge has periodically added to the arrearage.
(3)The friend of the court should not routinely apply the Arrearage Guideline to administratively change repayment amounts in cases where:
(a)The court has ordered a specific periodic arrearage payment, and since entry of that order, the arrearage has not increased by at least one month’s support obligation based on the current support amount (if no current support charge use the last ordered charge amount) and the payer’s support obligation has not decreased.
(b)The total arrearage has been reduced, but has not yet been paid in full since the repayment amount was set (because applying the Guideline to a decreased arrearage total would unnecessarily extend the repayment period).
(c)The court previously ordered or the friend of the court administratively set a repayment amount that deviated from the Guideline either to avoid an unjust or inappropriate result or because of a formal agreement between the parties, and circumstances have not significantly changed since then.
(d)In interstate cases where Michigan and another state’s tribunal have entered an order regarding the same payer and child, and the support order and arrears accumulated under the Michigan order are being enforced by another jurisdiction.
4.03(D)Administrative Adjustment Records
(1)Friend of the court offices should maintain records of: (a) administratively set repayment amounts; (b) repayment amounts that deviate from the Arrearage Guideline; and (c) the reasons for any such deviation.
4.03(E)Definitions for the purpose of the Arrearage Guideline:
(1)Administrative adjustment means a change in an amount not ordered by the court.
(2)Repayment amount means periodic amounts in addition to current support specifically designated to reduce the arrearage owed.
(3)Birth-related expenses means the support payer's share of medical expenses connected to the pregnancy and the birth of the child that the circuit court orders repaid pursuant to MCL 552.452 or MCL 722.712.
(4)Total-payment-amount means the sum of regular periodic current and past-due support obligation, fees, and other payments required by court order or statute (i.e., the total the court determined the parent could afford to pay) or administratively set by the friend of the court office.
4.04Agreements Related to Property
4.04(A)When parents reach an agreement that the court should deviate from the formula and connect a property settlement with the child support obligation, the complete agreement must be clearly stated in the judgment of divorce to be given continued effect. MCL 552.605 requires that any property award that is in lieu of child support required under the formula be recorded as a deviation from the formula.
4.05Minimum Threshold for Modification
4.05(A)The “minimum threshold for modification” is 10 percent of the currently ordered support payment, as defined in §3.01(A), or $50 per month, whichever is greater.
4.05(B)Following a child support review by the friend of the court office, if the difference between the recommended amount and the current order exceeds the minimum threshold for modification, the friend of the court office must petition the court to modify the order.
4.06Order Conversion, Prorating, and Rounding
4.06(A)To convert support amounts to their monthly equivalents, multiply weekly amounts by 4.35 and biweekly amounts by 2.175. See MCL 552.605c.
4.06(B)To convert monthly support obligations into daily amounts, multiply by .033.
4.06(C)Whenever it is necessary to prorate support amounts for partial months, apply the following equation:
Cb - ((Cb - Cn) x .033 x Dn)
Cb = Beginning Monthly Charge
.033 = Daily Adjustment (4.05(B))
Dn = Number of Days New Amount Effective
Cn = New Monthly Charge Amount