Do you have a child support case with the Cass County Friend of The Court? Do you feel like you need a child support “tune up?” Once child support is established, you may think that the amount you are ordered to pay is never going to change. Sometimes child support changes happen because of “automatic” child support reviews. But either party on a child support case can also ask for a change.

Parties have an opportunity to have an “automatic” child support review every 36 months. Support reviews can also be done at any time if either party’s circumstances change. Some common reasons to request a review would be: income changes, a documented inability to work due to disability or incarceration, the birth of additional children you are supporting and more. The ability to request a review ensures that child support orders are “right sized” and truly reflect parties’ actual circumstances.

It is important to know the procedure for requesting a child support review. Reviews must be requested in writing. The Cass County FOC has forms that you can fill out to request a review and these forms can be found online at casscourtsmi.org or you can pick up forms in the Cass County FOC office.  When asking for a child support review, tell us why you are requesting a review and also give details about what specifically has changed since the last time child support was ordered. If you don’t give the Cass County FOC enough information showing a change in circumstances, the Cass County FOC may deny your review request.

One of my main job duties is completing child support reviews. Our office has 180 days (six months) to complete a review. To begin the process, we send out paperwork to both parties to gather information including a “Notice of Review” and a “Case Questionnaire.”

The notice explains what additional paperwork is required, such as pay stubs, tax information, etc. as well as asking for completion of the Case Questionnaire which provides details about both parties’ situations.

It is important to turn in your Case Questionnaire and supporting documentation as soon as possible to ensure that accurate information is being used during the review. If you do not complete the Case Questionnaire or return your income information, our office may terminate the review, or attempt to locate information about you from other sources, which may not be as accurate as the information that you could provide.

After information has been gathered from both parties, our office takes that information and applies it to the Michigan Child Support Formula. When our office calculates child support, we cannot give you credit expenses such as rent, car payments, child(ren)’s clothing, child(ren)’s activities, and other common and necessary expenses.

The main items that the current formula considers are: the number of overnights each party has with the child(ren), parties’ other children, both parties’ incomes, child care costs, and medical coverage costs.

Once the child support review is completed, there a couple of different possible outcomes. First, if the calculation produces less than a $50 increase or decrease, the calculation does not meet the threshold for change. If the threshold for change is not met, then both parties will receive a “Notice of Review Results” and the child support obligation will not change.

Second, if the calculation produces greater than a $50 increase or decrease, then our office will generate a new Uniform Child Support Order. After the new order is generated, it is reviewed by the FOC’s attorney referee, and it is signed by the Judge. After being signed by the Judge and processed by the Clerk of the Court, the new order is mailed out to both parties.

If either party does not agree with the outcome of the child support review, either party can file a written objection in the Clerk’s office. If an objection is filed, a hearing will be scheduled so that both parties can have a chance to be heard and provide evidence about the outcome of the child support review.  If you have questions about the FOC that you think would be helpful to address in future columns, please send them to the FOC email address:  foc@cassco.org

Chelsea Olkowski is the FOC’s Review, Modification & Parenting Time Enforcement Specialist.