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If there is already a child support order in your court case, you can ask to change the support amount. This article has information about the different ways to change child support.
This article refers to the plaintiff and defendant(s) in a child support case as parties. In most cases the parties are both parents, but in some cases one of the parties is a non-parent custodian. Where this article uses the word parent specifically, those statements apply only to parents.
Choosing Which Process to Use
There are different ways to ask for a change in child support. Read about some basic differences between the options in this section. You can find more details about each process in the next section.
Agreement to Change Child Support
If both parties agree to a change in the support amount, they can ask the court to approve the agreement and make it a court order. This process can be faster than some of the other options.
The agreement process works best if the support amount is calculated using the Michigan Child Support Formula. If you agree to a different amount, you will probably need to file a motion to change support.
Friend of the Court (FOC) Support Review
Another option is asking for a Friend of the Court (FOC) child support review. After you submit your request, the FOC will review child support if:
It has been more than 36 months since the last support review, OR
The FOC decides there are reasonable grounds to review support
When the FOC reviews child support, they request information from both sides and recalculate child support. Some advantages of a FOC support review are:
You will not have to make or file a motion, schedule a hearing, serve court papers, or make a proposed order
You will not have to pay a motion fee, like you would if you filed a Motion Regarding Support (although you may be able to have your fees waived if you file a motion).
A disadvantage of asking for a FOC support review is that the change in the amount will not be effective until after the FOC has carried out its review process and allowed time for objections from each party. This can take several months. The FOC also will usually stick to the Michigan Child Support Formula. If you want to ask the court to order a different amount, a motion may be a better option.
Filing a Motion to Change Support
You can file a motion to change support if you are asking for a support order that follows the Michigan Child Support Formula or an amount that is different from the Formula amount.
It may be hard to convince the court to order an amount of support that is different from the Formula amount. You will find more information below about what you will need to prove.
If you file a motion to change support, the process can be shorter than an FOC support review. And if the court grants your motion, the change will extend back to the date the other party was served with your motion.
A disadvantage of filing a motion is that you will need to complete many steps on your own, unless you have a lawyer to help you. There is also a motion fee, although you may be able to have your fees waived.
If the support payer is going to jail or prison
If the support payer is sent to jail or prison for 180 days or more, they don’t have to file a motion to stop support. FOC is able to stop support after they find out the payer is incarcerated. But the payer may need to contact FOC and tell them they are in jail or prison.
Learn more
To learn more about any of these options, read the sections below.
Agreement to Change Child Support
If you agree with the other party to change child support, your agreement has to be made into a court order and signed by a judge to be legally binding. Either you or the Friend of the Court (FOC) can make a proposed order using the Uniform Child Support Order form. A proposed order becomes a final court order if the judge signs it.
If you agree to an amount calculated using the Michigan Child Support Formula
In general, Michigan law requires child support orders to follow the Michigan Child Support Formula. Lawyers and Friend of the Court workers calculate child support with software that uses the Formula. You can also use the MiChildSupport Calculator for free to calculate support according to the Formula.
The only way to get a child support amount that differs from the Formula amount is if the judge decides the Formula amount is unfair or inappropriate in your case.
Depending on your county, the Friend of the Court may be able to make a proposed order based on your agreement. Some FOC offices have a form to ask for their help with this. If your case is in a county where the FOC can help you, they will check if your agreement follows the Formula. After they make your proposed order, both parties will need to sign it before filing.
In other courts, you will need to fill out the proposed Uniform Child Support Order on your own before filing it. If you need to do this, first use the MiChildSupport Calculator to calculate support. Then get a blank Uniform Child Support Order. Copy/paste the numbers from the Calculator results page into the correct spaces on the proposed order. If the other party agrees to the proposed order, both of you should sign it on the last page. In many counties, the Friend of the Court will also need to review and approve your proposed order before the judge can sign it. Contact the Friend of the Court to find out:
Whether they need to approve your proposed support order, and if so,
How to submit the proposed order for FOC review.
You can go to the Courts & Agencies section of Michigan Legal Help to get contact information for your county’s Friend of the Court office.
Finally, file the finished proposed order with the court and wait for the judge’s decision.
If you agree to an amount different from the Child Support Formula amount
If you and the other party agree to an amount of support that is higher or lower than the Formula amount, the FOC may be able to help you make a proposed support order. But in most cases, you will need to file a motion to change support instead. To learn more, go to the section “Filing a Motion to Change Support” below.
Friend of the Court Support Review
The Friend of the Court automatically reviews child support orders at least once every 36 months if the child is supported at least partially by public assistance. The Friend of the Court can also review a child support order if a party makes a written request for a review, even if the child does not get public assistance. If it has been less than 36 months since the last review, the FOC is not required to review support again. However, the FOC may still decide to review support if they believe there are reasonable grounds to change support.
Reasonable grounds include:
Changes in the physical custody of a child that the judge did not order
Increased or decreased needs of the child
Private health insurance for the child is now available to a parent at a reasonable cost
The cost of the child’s health insurance has changed
A party’s financial conditions have changed. (Examples: A party has begun to receive public assistance, unemployment, or worker’s compensation.)
The current child support order was based on incorrect facts.
The FOC must also review support if a party shows that a substantial change in circumstances happened after the judge signed the last support order. A substantial change in circumstances is strictly defined. It happens in any of the following situations:
The payer begins or stops getting Social Security benefits;
A child starts getting Social Security benefits based on the support payer’s earnings, or those benefits are reduced by $50 per month or more;
A health issue affects a party’s ability to earn income for a long time. (This could be a long-term disability or injury, a long stay at the hospital and a long recovery time, etc.);
A parent’s income changes by 75% or more;
A parent gets a call to active military duty likely to last at least 6 months and resulting in significant income loss;
Significant changes in the medical expenses of a party;
Changes in the physical, mental, or educational needs of a child;
A change in the payer’s other support obligations has caused a significant change in their financial circumstances;
The support payer is incapacitated. However, the FOC does not have to review support if the payer still has enough resources or income to pay support. A payer is incapacitated if they are unable to earn an income for a period that will likely last 180 days or longer. This may be due to a physical or mental disability, serious injury or illness, or jail or prison time. Read more below about what to do when a support payer goes to jail or prison.
Some courts have a local form you can use to ask the Friend of the Court to review child support. You can call the Friend of the Court in the county where your case is or look on the court website to check. The Friend of the Court will also accept any kind of written request for a child support review.
If the FOC decides to conduct the support review, they will send a case questionnaire to both parties by mail, ask you to complete and submit the questionnaire online, or ask you to attend an in-person meeting to go through the questionnaire. You will also be required to submit certain documents, such as your four most recent paycheck stubs or a statement from your employer of wages, deductions, and year-to-date earnings.
Then the FOC will calculate child support using the Michigan Child Support Formula. They will ask a judge to change child support only if the difference between the current support amount and the new calculated amount is at least 10 percent or $50 per month, whichever is more.
If the FOC asks the judge assigned to your case to change support, they will provide a proposed Uniform Child Support Order to the judge and to the parties. The effective date of the new Uniform Child Support Order will be the date the judge signs it.
Filing a Motion to Change Support
Another way to ask for a change in child support is to file a Motion Regarding Support with the court. You can use the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change or Get Child Support tool to prepare a Motion Regarding Support.
Change of Circumstances
In your motion, you will have to show there has been a change of circumstances since the judge signed the last support order that would justify changing support. These are some examples:
A change in financial circumstances, such as a change of income or a change in the ability to earn money;
An increase in the child’s need for support, such as a significant increase in childcare expenses;
A change in health care coverage;
A support payer becomes incapacitated–for example, because of an illness, accident, disability, or incarceration. Read more below about what to do when a support payer is incarcerated.
Other changes may also qualify as a change of circumstances.
In general, a judge can’t change child support retroactively to a date earlier than the date the other party receives notice of your motion to change child support. For that reason, it is important to ask for a change in support soon after a change in circumstances happens.
The Support Amount You Request
The Do-It-Yourself Motion to Change or Get Child Support will prompt you to explain your change of circumstances. It will also ask what you want the new support amount to be.
In general, Michigan law requires child support to be ordered using the Michigan Child Support Formula amount. Lawyers and Friend of the Court workers calculate child support with software that uses the Formula. You can also use the MiChildSupport Calculator for free to calculate support according to the Formula. You will likely have a better and faster outcome to your motion if you do all of the following:
Calculate child support using the MiChild Support Calculator. The Calculator creates a page showing the calculation results.
In your motion, ask for the amount on the results page that the MiChildSupport Calculator created.
Fill out a Uniform Child Support Order using the calculation results and file it as a proposed order along with your motion. Also file the results page from the Calculator as an attachment so the judge can see what numbers you used.
If you want to ask for a change in support but you can’t get all the information you need to use the MiChildSupport Calculator, it’s ok to file a motion without asking for an exact amount. If you do this, the court process will likely take longer. The judge may send your motion to the Friend of the Court for a new support calculation. The FOC can also fill out a proposed Uniform Child Support Order for you.
If you want to ask for a child support amount other than the Michigan Child Support Formula amount, it will likely be harder. In order for a judge to approve a different amount, you have to show that the Formula amount is unfair or inappropriate.
You must complete and file the following forms:
A Motion Regarding Support
A proposed Uniform Child Support Order. Fill it out completely with the amounts you are asking the judge to approve.
A completed Uniform Child Support Order Deviation Addendum. Read more below.
How to Fill Out the Uniform Child Support Order Deviation Addendum
Use the MiChildSupport Calculator results to fill out the Deviation Addendum.
There are two tables on the first page with spaces for information. In the first table, fill in the names of the people in your case. The payer is the person who will pay child support. The payee is the name of the person who will get child support. In the column on the left, write each child’s name on a separate line. Next to each name, write the number of nights that each child spends with the payer each year. In the “Overnights” column on the right, write the number of nights that each child spends with the payee each year.
In the second chart on the first page, fill out the child support amounts you calculated using the MiChildSupport Calculator. Then complete the rest of the form, including the reasons why you are asking for a different child support amount. The Michigan Child Support Formula Manual lists 20 reasons that the Formula amount could be unfair or inappropriate. These reasons are called deviation factors. You can find them listed on pages 2 and 3 of the Manual. If any of these factors apply to your situation, include them when you write why the amount would be unfair or inappropriate, and bring them up at your hearing.
To decide if there should be a deviation, the judge will also look at the following:
Whether the proposed deviation would leave the child with less support than they need
Whether the party getting support relies on public benefits to meet the child’s basic needs (for example: Medicaid, state child care assistance, food assistance) and the payer’s ability to pay for those basic needs.
If you are asking for a support amount higher than the Formula amount and the other party agrees to it, the judge may waive the hearing and sign your support order. But if you are asking for a lower support amount, you will have a court hearing. Even if the other party agrees to the lower amount, you will still need to prove the Formula amount is unfair or inappropriate.
It can be hard to prove there should be a deviation from the Child Support Formula, so you may want to find a lawyer to help you. If you have low income, you may qualify for free legal services. Whether you have low income or not, you can use the Guide to Legal Help to find lawyers in your area.
The Court Process
You can find step-by-step instructions on how to file your forms and continue with the court process on the Filing to Change or Get a Child Support Order resource page. Select your filing county near the top of the page in the county drop-down. Then click “Set county.” Scroll down to the “Instructions” heading to read each of the instructions. Make sure you follow each step.
You will have a court hearing in front of a judge or a Friend of the Court referee. A referee can calculate support and prepare a recommended order for the judge. Or you may be referred to the Friend of the Court for alternative dispute resolution (ADR), such as mediation. Read Friend of the Court Overview for more information.
If the support payer is sent to jail or prison for 180 days
Typically, if a support payer is going to jail or prison for 180 days or more and the Friend of the Court receives notice, the FOC will abate child support (reduce it to $0). The FOC presumes that incarcerated payers generally do not have the ability to pay the monthly amount of support. However, if an individual payer is able to pay while incarcerated, the FOC will not reduce support.
To reduce support to $0, someone has to notify the FOC. In some counties, the jail will tell the Friend of the Court (FOC) that the payer is in jail. However, in other counties, you can’t rely on the jail to notify the FOC. If you are a support payer in this situation, call the Friend of the Court to let them know as soon as you can. You can go to the Courts & Agencies section of Michigan Legal Help to get the phone number for your county’s Friend of the Court office.
After the FOC learns about the incarceration, they will send a notice to both parties that support will be abated (reduced) to zero. Both parties have 21 days to object to the abatement in writing if they do not want support reduced. The reasons to object are mistake of fact or mistake of identity. Some examples are:
The payer still has the ability to pay while incarcerated, or
The payer will not be incarcerated for 180 days or more.
If a party objects, the FOC will consider the objection and decide if support should be reduced. FOC will determine this without a hearing. They will notify the parties of the determination and whether they plan to reduce support to $0. Either party can object to the determination by filing a motion within 21 days after the review determination notice.