People often fall behind on their child support, for a variety of reasons. They may have an extended layoff, may have a reduction in hours, or may lose their job altogether. Any number of reasons can result in a person being unable to keep up with their Michigan child support obligations.
Unless the payer is savvy enough to file for a reduction in child support promptly, they will be left with a support arrearage that cannot be changed by a motion to modify support. Child support payments may not be “retroactively modified”. This means that you can’t change a Michigan child support amount after it becomes due.
In many cases, this rule against “retroactive modification” leaves people with large child support arrearages that can’t be altered by a motion to modify child support.
However, even under these dire circumstances, relief may be available. If the child support payer can borrow funds, from a family member or friend, they might be able to work out a lump sum settlement with the child support recipient. For example, in exchange for a payment of $10,000.00, a child support recipient may be willing to waive $30,000.00 owed as chi Readability Good ld support arrearages. It is critical to determine, before entering into any such lump-sum settlement, that the money is owed to the recipient. A child support recipient does not have the authority to waive child support arrearages that are owed to the state, as a result of accepting state assistance.
Even in a situation involving child support arrearages that are owed to the state, recent legislation has provided an avenue to seek court approval of a payment plan that, once successfully completed, can waive a large amount of support arrearages.
Like many areas of law, there are a number of pitfalls that a person can fall into in attempting to reduce or eliminate arrearages. Representation by a skilled and responsive attorney can avoid those pitfalls. The Law Offices of Gregory Dean will provide the type of representation that you need to navigate through this process, and get you out that financial hole.