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Past due child support is called “arrears.” It could be a debt you owe to a person (the payee), the state, or both. If you owe the money to a person, it is probably your child’s other parent or guardian. You may owe arrears to the state if your child or child’s household gets public benefits or got them while you were ordered to pay child support.

Your child may be older than 18, but you may still owe arrears. Or you may be paying current support and also owe arrears. Even if you are up-to-date on current support payments, owing past child support can create problems for you.

If you can’t afford to pay the arrears, there are two different ways you can ask to have part of them discharged (canceled). If you owe arrears only to the State of Michigan, you can submit the Request to Discharge State-Owed Debt form to the Friend of the Court. Or if you owe arrears to a person, the state, or both, you can file a motion asking the court to let you complete a payment plan to pay part of the arrears, and then have the rest of the arrears discharged. Find out more about these options below.

What Happens If I Don’t Pay the Arrears?

If you owe arrears, the court may use different methods to enforce payment. These include but are not limited to:

Suspending your driver’s license, occupational license, recreational license, or sporting license
Placing liens on your real or personal property
Seizing your federal and state tax refunds
Denying you a passport
Garnishing your wages and other earnings
Seizing your vehicle, boat, or other item of value
Sending you to jail
Placing you under Friend of the Court supervision for a term fixed by the court with certain conditions. These conditions could include requiring you to participate in a parenting program or a work program, to participate in drug, alcohol, or other counseling, and to seek employment.

What If I Can’t Afford to Pay the Arrears?

There are two ways you can ask to have arrears discharged (canceled). You can fill out the Request to Discharge State-Owed Debt form asking the Friend of the Court (FOC) to discharge support debt you owe to the State of Michigan only. Or if you owe arrears to a person, the state, or both, you can file a motion asking the court to let you complete a payment plan to pay part of the arrears, and then have the rest of the arrears discharged.

Request to Discharge State-Owed Debt

If you owe arrears to the state only, it may be easier to submit a Request to Discharge State-Owed Debt than to file a motion. You can complete this form and submit it to the Friend of the Court office in the court that entered the child support order. After the Friend of the Court reviews your Request, they may ask you to fill out more paperwork or provide proof of the information you gave. FOC staff may also schedule a follow-up meeting with you in person or by phone.

Friend of the Court will discharge (cancel) all arrears owed to the state in any of the following situations:

You are in prison for life with no chance of parole.
You are in prison with an earliest release date of 10 or more years in the future, and your youngest child in your child support case is at least 18 years old.
You get SSI and have been determined to have a permanent impairment.
You do not get SSI but you claim a permanent medical disability, and the court has appointed a guardian for you or determined that you are an incapacitated individual.
You get SSI, you have not been determined to have a permanent disability, it has been 10 years since the first SSI determination, and child support is not currently charging.

Friend of the Court may discharge state-owed arrears completely or partially in any of these circumstances:

You now live in the same household with the payee and the child(ren), and having to pay the full state-owed arrears would deprive the children of needed income and create a hardship for your family.
You now have physical custody of the children, and payment of the full state-owed arrears would deprive the children of needed income and create a hardship for your family.
You have extraordinary medical expenses for yourself or a family member, and payment of the full state-owed arrears amount would create a hardship for your family.
You don’t have a job, you have exhausted unemployment benefits or you are not eligible, and you have limited assets and income. The FOC office may ask you to participate in a job program.
You have been doing one or more of the following for at least 30 days: living in a long-term homeless shelter, participating in a long-term homelessness program, and/or living in a transitional or supportive housing program.
You are living at or near the poverty level.

If you owe arrears on court orders in more than one county, you will need to submit one completed form with each FOC office where you are asking for a discharge of state-owed debt. The FOC will consider your request and decide whether to discharge any of the debt.

If the FOC can’t discharge arrears after reviewing your Request to Discharge State-Owed Debt, you can still file a motion with the court asking for a payment plan and discharge of the remaining arrears. Read the next section to learn more.

Motion for a Payment Plan and Discharge of Remaining Arrears

If you owe arrears to the state, a person, or both, you can file a motion with the circuit court asking for a payment plan and a discharge of remaining arrears. You can use the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Manage Child Support Debt tool to make your motion. If you owe arrears in more than one family court case, you must file a motion in each case where you want to ask for a payment plan and discharge of arrears.

By filing this motion, you are asking the judge to let you pay a set amount towards the arrears for a certain number of months, and then to discharge (cancel) the remaining arrears after you finish those payments.

Arrears Owed to a Person

If you owe arrears to a person, such as your child’s other parent, the judge can grant your motion only if that person (the payee) agrees to the payment plan and discharge of arrears. The payee can’t be threatened, bullied, or intimidated into agreeing. If the payee doesn’t agree, the judge can’t grant your motion.

The judge must also find both of the following:

The arrears did not arise just because you were trying to avoid paying support.
It is in the best interest of the parties and the children to approve the payment plan.

The payee can file a Response to Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears. Even if the payee agrees with what you asked for in your motion, you still need to go to the court hearing. To learn more about what to expect at the hearing, read the instructions in Child Support Debt — Get a Payment Plan and Cancel Some of Your Debt.

Arrears Owed to the State of Michigan

If you owe arrears to the state, the judge can grant your motion only if:

The arrears did not arise just because you were trying to avoid paying support;
You don’t have the current ability to pay the arrears without a payment plan, and won’t have the ability to pay them in the foreseeable future;
The payment plan will require you to pay a reasonable part of the arrears over a reasonable period of time considering your current ability to pay;
You served the Office of Child Support (OCS) with a copy of your motion at least 56 days before the hearing; and
It is in the best interest of the parties and the children to approve the payment plan.

The Office of Child Support may submit written comments for the judge to consider. If they comment, they will use form DHS-986 to say if they support your proposed payment plan or oppose it, and why. OCS will send a copy of this form to the court within 56 days of receiving your motion. OCS will also send copies of this form to the Friend of the Court and to all parties in your case.

OCS will support (agree with) your payment plan only if:

You don’t owe support arrears to a person; OR
Under your proposed payment plan, the state would receive payments toward the arrears you owe them after you have paid all the arrears you owe to a person, or the person has waived the arrears you owe them; OR
Either one of the following: (1) You show that you want to make payments on your arrears but can’t afford to pay 15% of your income and still pay for your living expenses; or (2) You receive means-tested income or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Means-tested income is public assistance based on having low income. It includes:

Food Assistance Program through the State of Michigan (also known as FAP or SNAP)
Medicaid (including Healthy Michigan, CHIP, and ESO)
Family Independence Program through the State of Michigan (also known as FIP or TANF)
Women, Infants, and Children benefits (WIC)
Supplemental Security Income through the federal government (SSI)
Other types of public assistance based on having low income

For OCS to support your proposed payment plan, you must also show you aren’t able to pay the full amount of arrears. When you have your court hearing, you will need to provide records to verify your income and assets.

How Much Do I Need to Pay to the State?

OCS may support a payment plan where you agree to pay an amount that is less than 15% of your monthly income if you show that:

You get means-tested income or SSI, or
You can’t afford to pay 15% of your income towards arrears and still pay your living expenses.

OCS will recommend a monthly payment of $0 on arrears you owe to the state if:

You show that you receive means-tested income or SSI and
You do not have any other income or assets.

Otherwise, your proposed payment plan should say that you will pay an amount that is equal to or greater than 15% of your monthly income.

How Many Months Does the Payment Plan Need to Last?

If your income is at or below the federal poverty level, OCS may support a plan that requires payments for at least 24 months. If your income is above the federal poverty level, OCS may support a plan that requires payments for at least 24 months plus one additional month for each $1,000 above the poverty level that you earn each year .

If the OCS doesn’t provide the judge with any comments before the hearing date, the judge may approve or deny the request for a payment plan or take other action. The judge may ask the OCS for comments. Or, the judge may appoint someone to review your assets and your proposed payment plan. This person would make a recommendation to the judge about whether to approve your proposed plan. They could also propose a different payment plan. The judge can give this person the power to use your assets to complete the payment plan and to monitor your progress. The judge can also order you to pay this person for their services.

Arrears Owed to Both a Person and the State of Michigan

You may owe arrears to both a person and the state. The judge will look at each type of arrears separately. If you qualify for a payment plan for one type of arrears but not the other, the judge can grant just one part of your motion.

Other Requirements

If the judge approves a payment plan, the order may list some conditions requiring you to participate in different programs or counseling. This could include participating in:

A parenting program
Drug and alcohol counseling
Anger management classes or a batterer intervention program
A work program
Counseling

Another condition may be continuing to comply with your current support order.

What Happens Next?

If the judge grants your motion, then after you finish making payments under the payment plan, you will need to schedule another hearing date and give proper notice to the other party or parties. To learn more, read the instructions in Child Support Debt — Get a Payment Plan and Cancel Some of Your Debt.

At the hearing, if the judge finds you completed the payment plan, they will discharge (cancel) your remaining arrears. If you made most of the payments under the payment plan but not all of them, it will be up to the judge whether to discharge some or all of the remaining arrears.

Can Arrears Come Back After They Are Discharged?

Arrears can be reinstated (come back) in some situations. If a judge granted your motion to discharge arrears and then you received a large amount of money while you were still making payments on the payment plan , arrears could be reinstated. For example, this could happen if you got an inheritance, a settlement under an insurance policy or a judgment in a civil action, or won the lottery. Arrears can also be reinstated if a payee who waived arrears owed to them starts to get public assistance while the payment plan is pending.

Arrears will not be reinstated automatically. The payee or the state has to file a motion and show there is good cause to reinstate arrears. But arrears cannot be reinstated after you complete the payment plan and the judge discharges remaining arrears.

If you filed a Request to Discharge State-Owed Debt with Friend of the Court and they discharged your arrears, the arrears cannot be reinstated if your circumstances change or you get a financial windfall. But if you gave incorrect, incomplete, or false information to the FOC to have your arrears discharged, any arrears discharged as a result of the false statement can be reinstated.

What about Child Support That Is Still Charging?

If new child support payments are still charging in your court case, you are responsible for paying them, even if your arrears were discharged. If the child support amount is too high, you can ask to change it. To learn how, read Changing a Child Support Order.

Finding a Lawyer

You might decide you want a lawyer to help you. If you have a low income, you may qualify for free legal services. Whether you have a low income or not, you can use the Guide to Legal Help to find lawyers in your area. If you are not able to get free legal services but can’t afford high legal fees, consider hiring a lawyer for part of your case instead of the whole thing. This is called limited scope representation. To learn more, read Limited Scope Representation (LSR): A More Affordable Way to Hire a Lawyer. To find a limited scope lawyer, follow this link to the State Bar of Michigan lawyer directory. This link lists lawyers who offer limited scope representation. You can narrow the results to lawyers in your area by typing in your county, city, or zip code at the top of the page. You can also narrow the results by topic by entering the kind of lawyer you need (divorce, estate, etc.) at the top of the page.

I Have Child Support Debt I Can't Afford to Pay