Hey there! Welcome back and thanks for joining us for this discussion about paying off child support, and how you can consolidate your arrears. As we mentioned in the previous article, owing child support to the state, or to an individual, can have some very serious consequences. And that’s what we’d like to share with you this time, some info on what you can expect if you owe child support that isn’t being paid off. (It’s not pretty!)

What happens when you don’t pay off your child support?

There are many ways the state can enforce the payment of child support, and none of them are pleasant. Here are some of the more common ways they come after people to get what’s owed:

• They can withhold money from your paycheck, or other income source.
• They can place liens on your property
• They can garnish your federal and state tax refunds
• Your driving, occupational, and recreational (hunting/fishing) licenses can all be suspended
• You could have your passport denied or revoked
• You could be fined, or sentenced to serve time in jail by the court.

How do you go about paying off your child support debt?

As you can see, not paying off the child support you owe in Michigan can have very serious consequences. But you don’t have to spend the rest of your child’s life running from the court. There are ways to handle this issue before it gets out of hand, or before the consequences make life that much harder for you. For example:

• Request a Discharge of State-Owed Debt from the Friend of the Court:

If the child support debt you owe is to the state, and not to a person, and you don’t believe there’s any chance that you can (or will be able to) pay what you owe, then don’t worry. What you need to do is complete this form, which is a request to discharge any state-owed debt. Once it’s filled out, you need to file the form with Friend of the Court in the county where your child support order comes from. (If you happen to owe child support arrears in more than one county, you would need to fill the form out for all the counties where you owe child support.) Friend of the Court will consider your request, and you may have your debts dismissed.

• File a motion with the Circuit Court

If you owe arrears to either the state or an individual, you can file a motion with the circuit court requesting that a judge set up a payment plan for you and discharge your arrears. This means you would be asking the judge to allow you to pay a fixed monthly amount towards what you already owe, and then once you’ve faithfully made all the payments you agreed to, they would forgive the remaining amount. To apply for this payment plan, try this helpful online application process provided for free by Law Help Interactive.

Calculating child support is an important part of many divorces

When a couple with children gets divorced, they have many hurdled ahead, including child support, child custody, and many parenting decisions that need to be made. With help from the skilled family lawyers at The Kronzek Firm, you can make all these decisions knowing that your best interests are being fiercely protected. Call 866 766 5245 at any time, day or night, to discuss your case with someone who can help.