Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears

Use the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Manage Child Support Debt to prepare the following forms:

• Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears
• Partly completed Order Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears
• Fee Waiver Request (if needed)

Some of the steps later in these instructions may have slightly different information for you depending on how you will file with the court. Each court decides how it will accept documents for filing. Contact your court to find out which methods are available. Depending on your court, you may be able to file by: 

• In-person filing
• E-mail
• E-filing using MiFILE Mailing or
• dropping off documents

You can find contact information for your court on the Courts & Agencies page of Michigan Legal Help.

MiFILE is only available for some courts. Even in courts where it is available, you can only use it for some case types. The State Court Administrative Office keeps a chart of courts that use e-filing. To learn more, read What Is E-Filing?.

If you will be filing in person at the court, you can either call the court before filing to get a hearing date, or wait until you are at the court. If you call ahead of time to get a hearing date, fill out the Notice of Hearing section on your motion form with the information you get about the hearing date, location of hearing, and name of the judge or referee who will hear the motion. If you wait until you are at the court to get a hearing date, remember to fill out the Notice of Hearing on all copies of your motion. 

If you are not filing in person (such as filing by MiFILE, e-mail, or mail), call the court clerk's office and ask how they would like the Notice of Hearing section of your motion to be completed. They may give you a hearing date or choice of dates, or they may ask you to leave it blank for the court to assign a date later. If they give you a hearing date, fill out the Notice of Hearing section on your motion with the information you get about the hearing date, location of hearing, and name of the judge or referee who will hear the motion.

It will cost at least $20 to file your motion.

If you are unable to pay the filing fee, you can ask the court to waive it by filing a Fee Waiver Request. If you used the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Manage Child Support Debt tool to create your forms and answered that you receive public assistance, a Fee Waiver Request came with the other forms. Otherwise, you can use the Do-It-Yourself Fee Waiver to prepare your Fee Waiver Request.

The clerk of the court must automatically approve your fee waiver if any of these are true:

• You receive public assistance based on having low income (examples: FAP, SNAP, Healthy Michigan, CHIP, ESO, FIP, TANF, WIC, SSI);
• You are represented by a legal services program that receives funding from the Legal Services Corporation or the Michigan State Bar Foundation; or
• You are represented by a law school clinic based on having low income.

If you do not fit into one of these three categories, a judge will review your Fee Waiver Request. The judge must waive your fees if you show that your gross household income is under 125% of the federal poverty level. If your gross household income is over 125% of the federal poverty level, but you show that paying fees would be a financial hardship for you, the judge must also waive your fees.

To learn more, read Fee Waivers in Court Cases.

You must sign and date your Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears and your Fee Waiver Request (if you are filing one). If you chose to sign electronically, this is already done. The electronic signature will look like this: /s/ Your Name.

After you sign your documents, make these copies:

• Fee Waiver Request (if needed) – 3 copies
• Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears – 5 or 6 copies (5 if you owe arrears either to the other parent or the state, 6 if you owe arrears to both the other parent and the state)
• Proposed Order Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears – 5 copies

In some counties, the court clerk’s office will make the copies for you. You can call the clerk’s office ahead of time to ask whether you need to make your own copies. 

If you are going to file and serve the papers either by e-mail or using MiFILE, you will not need to make copies unless you owe child support arrears to the Office of Child Support or another party who is not your child's other parent (read Step 6 to learn more).

Please note that completing the documents on Michigan Legal Help or LawHelp Interactive does not file anything with the court. Contact your court to find out which filing methods are available. Depending on your court, you may be able to file electronically. To learn more about filing methods that may be available, read Step 1.

Pay the filing fee or file a Fee Waiver Request along with the Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears. If you are filing in person at the court clerk's office, give the clerk all of the copies of your papers. The clerk will return any copies that the court doesn’t need. Also file any attachments to your motion, such as your child support payment history, pay stubs, etc. You may want to contact the Friend of the Court to ask what attachments are required. Some courts will only want you to attach your financial documents to the Friend of the Court copy. Mark out any personal identifying information, such as your Social Security Number, before filing. 

If you are filing in person at the court clerk's office and you did not already get a hearing date for your motion, remember to ask the clerk for a hearing date. Fill out the Notice of Hearing section of your motion on the original and all copies. 

If you are filing in person or need contact information for the court, click on Courts & Agencies for the address and phone number of the court.

If you owe any part of the arrears to the other parent, you must serve (send) them a copy of each paper you file. If the other parent has a lawyer, send the papers to the lawyer instead. This includes one copy of each of the following forms, along with any attachments that you filed:

• Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears
• Fee Waiver Request and the decision on your request (if you filed a Fee Waiver Request)

You must serve documents electronically if you can and if the other party has access to e-mail. If you or the other party can't do this electronically, or if you are not sure, you can serve by regular mail. If you serve by mail, send the papers to the other party’s last known address.

If you are using MiFILE to file documents electronically, your documents will be served electronically as long as the other party is also using MiFILE. If the other party is not using MiFILE, you will need to serve the documents by e-mail, if possible, or by regular mail if electronic options are not available.

MiFILE is only available for some courts. Even in courts where it is available, you can only use it for some case types. The State Court Administrative Office keeps a chart of courts that use e-filing. To learn more, read What Is E-Filing?.

Service must be completed at least 9 days before the hearing date if you mail it or at least 7 days before the hearing date if it is personally delivered or served through MiFILE. If you are serving through e-mail, the court rule is not clear about the timeline. To be on the safe side, complete service at least 9 days before the hearing date.

If you are serving documents by e-mail, keep the following rules in mind:

• All documents must be in PDF format;
• The e-mail subject line must include the name of the court, case name, case number, and the title of each document being sent;
• If you e-mail a document at or before 11:59 p.m., it is considered served on that day. If you send the e-mail on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it is considered served on the next business day;
• Do not delete any e-mails you send to the other party, especially e-mails that served court documents. You must keep a record of sent items until a judgment or final order is entered and all appeals have been completed.

If you owe any part of the arrears to the State of Michigan, you must serve the Office of Child Support (OCS) with a copy of what you filed. Mail one copy of the Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears with attachments at least 56 days before the hearing date to:

Complete the Certificate of Mailing on one copy of the Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears if you will be filing it electronically. If you will be filing in person or by mail, complete the Certificate of Mailing on all three remaining copies of your motion. File two copies, and keep one copy for your records.

If you served the other parent electronically, write this in by hand in the Certificate of Mailing section. For example, if you served them by e-mail, write “I served [party name] by e-mail to emailaddress@email.com.” 

If you served the other party using MiFILE, you will not need to file a Certificate of Mailing. MiFILE will create and file a Proof of Service for you.

In some counties, you must take your proposed Order Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears to the Friend of the Court for approval before the judge can sign it. Contact the Friend of the Court to find out if you must do this. You can find contact information for the Friend of the Court office in each county under Courts & Agencies.

If your proposed order must be approved by the Friend of the Court, take the order and all the copies to the Friend of the Court office. Do this as soon as possible, because it may take the Friend of the Court a few days to review the order. Ask when to come back for the order or whether someone will call you to pick it up.

These are brief instructions about attending your court hearing. For more detailed instructions about going to court, watch the Going to Court video.

Go to the court on the scheduled day and time. Dress neatly. Arrive 10 or 15 minutes before your scheduled hearing time. Go to the courtroom clerk and tell them your name, that you are there for a hearing, and that you are representing yourself. Follow the clerk’s directions and do not interrupt any hearing in progress.

Bring your papers with you to the hearing, including:

• Your motion and any attachments
• The other parent’s response
• The proposed Order Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears

When you are called, go to the place you are directed and answer the judge’s questions clearly and directly. If the other parent is at the hearing, he or she will also have a turn to speak. A Friend of the Court worker may also be present and will get a turn to speak.

If the judge makes a decision at the hearing, he or she will probably sign the proposed order(s) at that time. If the other party is at the hearing, you can ask the judge to serve them with the signed orders in the courtroom.

The judge may not make a decision at the hearing. Instead, the judge might refer the motion to the Friend of the Court or schedule a trial.

If your hearing is before a referee instead of a judge, the referee will issue a recommended order. If you disagree with it, you have 21 days from the date of mailing to file an Objection to Referee’s Recommended Order. Then the judge will review the record of the referee hearing, have a new hearing, or both. If you do not file an Objection within 21 days, the recommended order will become an order of the court.

Make five copies of the signed Order Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears. If there is more than one other party (for example, the Office of Child Support and/or another agency or person besides your child's other parent), make an additional copy of the order for them. File the original order and one copy with the clerk. The clerk will return the other copies to you.

If you are able to serve the other party electronically, you will not need a copy for them.

Unless the other party was served with the order at the hearing, you must serve (send) the order to the other party within 7 days after the judge signs it. Look back to Step 6 for information on how to serve papers.

If there are any third parties in your case, also serve them with a copy of the order.

If you are going to file the Certificate of Mailing in person at the courthouse or by mail, complete the Certificate of Mailing on the three remaining copies of the order. File two copies and keep one copy for your records. If you are going to file electronically, you only need to complete the Certificate of Mailing on one copy.

If you served the other parent electronically, write this in by hand in the Certificate of Mailing section. For example, if you served them by e-mail, write “I served [party name] by e-mail to emailaddress@email.com.” 

If you served the other party using MiFILE, you will not need to file a Certificate of Mailing. MiFILE will create and file a Proof of Service for you.