Under Michigan child support arrearage laws, every missed payment becomes a court judgment the day it is due, and the Friend of the Court can start collecting through wage withholding, license suspension, tax refund intercepts, liens, passport denial, contempt, and even felony charges. Past-due support cannot be wiped out retroactively by a later court order, but Michigan does allow a formal payment plan that can end in partial forgiveness. What follows is how the balance grows, what the state can do to collect it, and the narrow ways to push back or reduce what you owe.
How the Balance Grows
A child support arrearage is the running total of court-ordered support that has gone unpaid. Each installment becomes a legal judgment on its due date and carries the same weight as any other court judgment.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.603 – Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act Once due, it cannot be retroactively reduced.
Michigan law provides that support orders do not accrue interest.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.603 – Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act The unpaid balance does not compound the way a credit card does. But Michigan does authorize a surcharge on delinquent accounts, and every missed or partial payment adds to the principal, so the total owed can still climb above the sum of the skipped installments.
What the State Can Do to Collect
Income Withholding
Income withholding is Michigan’s default enforcement tool. Every support order entered or modified after July 1, 1983, must include an income withholding provision, and the order typically takes effect immediately.2Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.604 – Support Order to Provide for Order of Income Withholding The FOC sends the notice to the employer, and the order binds the employer seven days after receipt.3Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.611 – Order of Income Withholding When an arrearage exists, the withholding amount includes current support plus an additional amount applied to the past-due balance.
License Suspension
Michigan splits license suspension into two tracks. Occupational, professional, trade, recreational, and sporting licenses can be suspended once the arrearage exceeds two months of payments and income withholding has failed.4Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.628 – License Suspension
Driver’s license suspension has a higher bar. The court must additionally find that the payer has the ability to pay but is willfully refusing, and that no other enforcement tool would be effective. Before any license is suspended, the FOC must send notice giving the payer 21 days to pay the arrearage or request a hearing, where the balance, identity, or a payment schedule can be raised.4Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.628 – License Suspension
Tax Refund Intercepts
Michigan can intercept a state tax refund. Under the Revenue Act, the Department of Treasury applies refunds first to state tax debts, then to support obligations assigned to the state, and then to other child support arrears at the request of the Office of Child Support.5Michigan Legislature. MCL 205.30a – Application of Refund to Liability
Federal refunds are also reachable. Through the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program, an IRS refund can be seized when arrears reach $500, or $150 if the custodial parent receives public assistance.6The Administration for Children & Families. When Is a Child Support Case Eligible for the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program? A joint-filing spouse with no connection to the debt can recover their share by filing IRS Form 8379.7Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation
Property Liens
Michigan law creates automatic liens on the real and personal property of anyone who falls behind. The support order itself provides notice that property can be encumbered or seized.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.603 – Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act Once the arrearage exceeds twice the monthly payment amount, the state’s Title IV-D agency notifies the child support lien network, which can flag financial accounts and other assets nationwide.8Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.624b – Notification to Child Support Lien Network These liens can block real estate sales, tie up bank accounts, and intercept insurance settlements or lottery winnings.
Passport Denial
If arrears reach $2,500 or more, the federal government will deny a passport application or revoke an existing passport.9U.S. Department of State. Pay Child Support Before Applying for a Passport Michigan reports qualifying arrears to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which forwards them to the State Department. To regain a passport, the balance has to come down below $2,500 or the payer has to make satisfactory payment arrangements.
Social Security Garnishment
SSDI and Social Security retirement benefits are not shielded from child support enforcement. Under federal law, garnishment caps are:
- 50% of disposable benefits if the payer is supporting another spouse or child
- 55% if supporting another spouse or child and the arrearage is 12 or more weeks old
- 60% if not supporting another spouse or child
- 65% if not supporting another spouse or child and the arrearage is 12 or more weeks old
Michigan can garnish up to these percentages but no further unless a court specifically overrides the limits.10Social Security Administration. How Garnishment Withholding Is Calculated Supplemental Security Income (SSI) cannot be garnished for child support because it is a needs-based program.
Contempt of Court
When administrative tools have not worked, the court can hold a payer in contempt. Contempt requires an arrearage plus a finding that the payer had the ability to pay, or could have earned the ability to pay through reasonable effort, and chose not to. Penalties include jail time, community corrections, or a fine of up to $100. Jail is the real leverage. Before ordering incarceration the court must consider actual resources; the law presumes the payer has resources equal to one month of payments, and the FOC has to prove anything beyond that.11Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.633 – Contempt
Felony Prosecution
Failing to pay court-ordered support in Michigan is a felony. Under the Michigan Penal Code, a parent who does not pay in the amount or at the time stated in the order can be charged with a felony carrying up to four years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000.12Michigan Legislature. MCL 750.165 – Nonsupport of Children Prosecution typically targets parents with large, long-standing arrears who have ignored other enforcement, but the statute sets no minimum amount.
Changing the Amount Going Forward
If your income or the children’s needs have changed significantly, you can ask the court to modify the support amount. Michigan law allows revision when the circumstances of the parents or the needs of the children have changed.13Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.17 – Revision and Alteration of Judgment Job loss, a substantial pay cut, a serious medical condition, or a significant change in parenting time are common grounds.
The timing rule is unforgiving. A modification can only be applied retroactively to the date the petition was served on the other party, not to the date the hardship began.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.603 – Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act Every month you wait to file is a month of arrearage that cannot be undone. Lose your job in January, wait until June, and you owe the full original amount for those five months whatever the court later decides.
If the FOC approves a request, the new amount is recalculated under the Michigan Child Support Formula.14Michigan Courts. Child Support Formula A modification changes future obligations only. It does not touch arrears already accrued.
Payment Plans and Partial Forgiveness
Michigan has a formal process that can actually reduce the debt, and many parents do not know it exists. Under MCL 552.605e, a payer with arrears can file a motion asking the court to approve a payment plan.15Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.605e – Payment Plan for Arrearages The rules depend on who is owed.
When the arrearage is owed to the custodial parent, the court can approve a plan if the payee consents and the debt did not arise from deliberate avoidance of the obligation. When it is owed to the state (typically because the custodial parent received public assistance), the payer must show an inability to pay in full now or in the foreseeable future and must propose paying a reasonable portion over a reasonable period.15Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.605e – Payment Plan for Arrearages
Once the payer completes the plan, the court can discharge the remaining arrears. Even substantial completion may qualify for partial relief at the court’s discretion.15Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.605e – Payment Plan for Arrearages The plan requires continued compliance with the current support order, and the court can reinstate a forgiven amount if things change, such as a large inheritance, lawsuit settlement, or lottery winnings.
Defenses to Enforcement
The most direct defense is a genuine inability to pay, documented with pay stubs, termination letters, medical bills, and bank statements. Vague claims will not carry the day.
The second is challenging the balance itself. Payment records are not always accurate. You can request an audit of your account through the FOC. If payments were made but not properly credited, particularly cash payments or direct transfers to the other parent, the court can correct the balance.15Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.605e – Payment Plan for Arrearages Direct payments outside the Michigan State Disbursement Unit are nearly impossible to verify later, which is why paying through the official channel matters.
In contempt proceedings specifically, the court has to find that you had the capacity to pay. Documentation showing you genuinely could not pay defeats a contempt finding.11Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.633 – Contempt The presumption is that you have resources equal to one month of payments; anything more, the FOC has to prove.
Bankruptcy Will Not Erase It
Filing bankruptcy does not eliminate child support arrears. Federal bankruptcy law lists child support and spousal support debts as non-dischargeable, meaning they survive the case and remain fully enforceable afterward.16United States Courts. Discharge in Bankruptcy – Bankruptcy Basics This applies under Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 12. A filing may pause some collection through the automatic stay, but child support enforcement is generally exempt from that stay.
Working With the Friend of the Court
The Friend of the Court is the engine behind most enforcement in Michigan. Every judicial circuit has an FOC office, created by statute, that handles child support, custody, and parenting time matters.17Michigan Legislature. MCL 552.503 – Office of the Friend of the Court It monitors payments, maintains records, sends delinquency notices, initiates license suspensions, refers cases for contempt, and recommends modifications.
The FOC also mediates disputes and makes recommendations to the judge. It acts in the child’s best interest and is not an advocate for either parent. If you disagree with an FOC recommendation, you have the right to object and request a hearing before the judge. Responding to FOC notices quickly, and filing any modification motion the moment your circumstances change, are the two moves that keep enforcement from escalating.