Does Child Support Automatically Stop at 18 in Michigan?

Child support in Michigan does not always stop automatically at 18. The current obligation generally ends on the child’s 18th birthday, but if the child is still in high school full-time, a court can extend support until graduation or age 19½, whichever comes first.¹ And if the paying parent owes back support, the case stays open and the monthly payment may not drop at all.

What “Ends at 18” Actually Means

When a child turns 18 and is not still attending high school full-time, the current support obligation terminates by its own terms. The Friend of the Court office, which manages support orders for the family division of the circuit court, reviews the case before closing it and sends notice to both parents.

“Automatic” is a little misleading in practice. The obligation may expire on the date in the order, but closure is not instant. If arrears exist, the case stays open and payments continue until the balance is resolved.² Don’t assume turning 18 means the final payment has already gone out.

When Support Continues to 19½

The most common extension applies to children who turn 18 before finishing high school. A court can order support to continue as long as the child attends high school full-time, lives full-time with the parent receiving support (or at an institution), and has a reasonable expectation of earning enough credits to graduate.¹ Support under this extension cannot run past the 19th birthday plus six months, no matter when graduation falls.

A few details matter. The order must specify a termination date as the last day of a particular month, so it does not float until graduation day. Either parent can file a complaint or motion requesting the extension, but it has to happen before the child turns 19½. If no one files, the extension does not kick in on its own. The statute refers to “high school” without limiting it to public schools, so accredited programs count.

What Michigan Courts Cannot Order

Two assumptions trip people up, and both are wrong under Michigan law. Confusing either with reality leads parents to overpay or to count on money that will never arrive.

No Court-Ordered College Support

Michigan courts have no authority to order a parent to pay child support while a child attends college. The high school completion extension is the only post-18 extension the statute allows.¹ Parents who want to share college costs must negotiate that into the divorce judgment or settlement voluntarily. A court can enforce a voluntarily agreed-upon college provision; it cannot impose one over a parent’s objection.

No Post-Majority Disability Support

Michigan is one of the few states that does not authorize courts to order ongoing child support for an adult child with a disability. Many parents assume a child who cannot become self-sufficient will keep receiving court-ordered support. That is the law in some states, but not here. The same age limits apply regardless of disability: support ends at 18, or at 19½ if the high school extension applies. Families in this situation generally look to Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, or ABLE accounts rather than the child support system.

When an Order Covers More Than One Child

The oldest child aging out does not automatically shrink the payer’s total monthly payment the way most people expect. The 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula Manual spells this out: if arrears exist when a current support obligation terminates, the total payment amount does not automatically decrease. The portion that had been going to current support for the now-adult child gets redirected to pay down the arrearage balance.³

If the payer has no arrears, the support amount should be recalculated to reflect one fewer child. But that recalculation does not happen on its own. The payer usually needs to file a motion for modification, or the Friend of the Court may initiate a review. Until a new order is entered, the existing order controls. A payer who stops paying the full amount without a modified order risks building arrears on the difference.

Arrears Do Not Go Away at 18

Any unpaid balance survives the child’s 18th birthday. The case stays open, enforcement tools remain available, and the paying parent’s total monthly payment may not change at all because the freed-up current-support amount simply rolls into arrearage repayment.³

Michigan does not charge traditional interest on overdue support. It applies a surcharge to the arrearage balance. A 2003 law changed the surcharge from a fixed 8% annual compounding rate to a variable, non-compounding rate.⁴ It still accumulates, and the Friend of the Court must report any parent whose arrears exceed two months to credit reporting agencies. Standard enforcement, including income withholding, tax refund interception, property liens, and license suspensions, remains fully available for collecting arrears long after the child turns 18. In the most serious cases, failure to pay court-ordered support is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.⁵

Parents who owe arrears and face real financial hardship should file a motion to modify the repayment terms rather than let the balance grow. Courts have some flexibility in structuring arrearage repayment, but they cannot forgive the debt entirely because it belongs to the child, not the state.

Health Insurance Follows Its Own Rules

Cash support and health coverage are governed separately, and one ending does not mean the other does. Many Michigan divorce judgments include a Qualified Medical Child Support Order or a National Medical Support Notice requiring a parent to carry the child on employer-sponsored insurance. That obligation follows the terms of the court order, not the age-18 cutoff for cash support.⁶

Separately, under the Affordable Care Act, health plans that offer dependent coverage must keep adult children eligible until age 26, regardless of residence, tax dependency, or student status.⁷ A parent whose divorce judgment requires maintaining coverage may need to keep providing it well past the child’s 18th birthday. Michigan’s child support system does not automatically trigger an employer notice to drop the child when the support case closes, specifically to avoid gaps while a court order still requires coverage.

Confirming Your Termination Date

The Friend of the Court office in the county where the order was entered is the definitive source for your termination date. Contact them and request written confirmation. The date should appear in the original support order, but orders entered before 1990 may use different language, and a high school extension can shift it. Don’t rely on assumptions about when payments should stop.

If you are the paying parent, keep making full payments until you have written confirmation that the obligation has ended. Stopping early, even by one month, creates an arrearage with its own enforcement consequences. If you are the receiving parent and believe support should continue past 18 because the child is still in high school, file a complaint or motion before the child turns 19½.¹ That deadline is absolute. Miss it and the court loses jurisdiction to extend.

Both parents should keep records of every payment, every Friend of the Court communication, and every school enrollment document. The gap between what one parent thinks was paid and what the Friend of the Court ledger shows is one of the most common sources of post-termination disputes, and the parent with documentation wins those arguments.

1
Michigan Legislature. MCL Section 552.605b – Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act (Excerpt)
2
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Michigan IV-D Child Support Manual Section 3.50 – Case Closure
3
Michigan Courts. 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula Manual – Section 4.03(B)(8)
4
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Michigan IV-D Child Support Manual Section 5.75 – Surcharge
5
Michigan Legislature. MCL Section 750.165 – Failure to Support Spouse or Child as Required by Court Order
6
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Michigan IV-D Child Support Manual Section 6.06 – Medical Support
7
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Young Adults and The Affordable Care Act: Protecting Young Adults and Eliminating Burdens on Families and Businesses