What happens to a child support order if the child ends up living with the person paying child support after support is ordered?

Under these circumstances, the payer can request an abatement of the child support.  The term abatement is used to describe an action to “alleviate or remove.” When dealing with child support, Michigan law provides for support to abate if the child(ren) and payer start living in the same home together after support is ordered.

If a payer wishes to request abatement of support because he or she is living in the same home as the child(ren), the payer should contact the Friend of the Court Office to obtain a form called “Request to Abate (Stop) Child Support Because of Child(ren) Living With Payer” or the form can be retrieved on-line from our website.

When we receive this form, the caseworker responsible to process abatements will file a 21-day Notice that support will abate with Circuit Court.   The 21-day period is to allow time for the recipient of support to file an objection.  The caseworker will mail a copy of the notice to each of the parties to notify them that a request to abate support has been made.  The form will include the requested effective date and the child(ren’s) information the abatement applies to. The recipient of support will receive an objection form along with the notice in case he or she would want to object to the request.

If an objection is not filed within 21 days, support shall abate retroactive to the effective date stated in the notice, for the child(ren), named in the notice.  If an objection is filed, the caseworker will send a letter to the parties stating that the Friend of the Court will not proceed with the administrative abatement. The letter will inform the parties that if they would like the court to rule on the matter, they must file a motion or seek advice from an attorney. A hearing would have to be scheduled by the moving party.

It should be noted, however, that when support abates, support is the only provision in the court order that is affected.  Abatement does not mean that custody has legally changed.  If the parent who was the payer, that now is living with the child(ren), wants to change custody, a motion must be filed regarding custody. Unless agreed to by the parties, a hearing would be hosted and only by an order of the court, custody could change. If the parties submit a stipulation regarding custody (forms available upon request or from our website) an order from the court indicating whether it was approved or denied would enter. You should contact an attorney to help you though this process.  The Friend of the Court’s office is not allowed to give legal advice. If you are comfortable representing yourself, we do have “pro per” packets for your use.

If no objection was filed and support was abated, the Friend of the Court’s office must be notified if and when the child(ren) are back living with just the recipient of support.  A letter or email should be sent to the Friend of the Court’s office stating the facts including the date the child(ren) stopped living with the payer.  If both parties were living with the child(ren), we would need the date of the new separation. Also included in the letter to the FOC should be any new address, contact information and employment information for both parties, if known.

The caseworker will then send the parties a letter stating that the abatement has been terminated, the date of the termination, and that support has been reinstated at the previously ordered amount.  At that time, the caseworker will generate an income withholding order to the payer’s employer. A coupon and information on how to pay support will be included in the payer’s letter so that support can be paid to the Michigan State Disbursement Unit until support begins being deducted from his or her paycheck.

If you have questions about the FOC that you think would be helpful to address in future columns, please email them to the FOC at:  foc@cassco.org.

Donella Kujawa is a Cass County Friend of the Court, Financial Case Management Supervisor.